Hôtel des Invalides

The golden dome of the Hôtel des Invalides rises above the skyline, coated in over twelve kilograms of gold leaf. Louis the fourteenth ordered this complex built in sixteen seventy to house wounded soldiers who had nowhere else to go after his relentless wars. Within these walls, veterans found a hospital, a church, and a strictly enforced residence. A soldier named Jean Larcher once wrote of the rigid daily schedule of prayers and inspections that defined life here for thousands of aging men.