Les Invalides

The golden dome of Les Invalides catches the light above the seventh arrondissement, rising high above the Paris skyline. King Louis the Fourteenth commissioned this sprawling complex in sixteen seventy to house wounded soldiers who had served in his armies. It functioned as a self-contained city for veterans, complete with its own chapel and hospital wards. Years later, it became the final resting place for Napoleon Bonaparte, whose massive red quartzite sarcophagus sits directly beneath the center of that shimmering, gilded dome.