Musée de l'Armée

The massive complex you are approaching, Les Invalides, was originally commissioned by King Louis the Fourteenth as a hospital and retirement home for war veterans. At its peak, the facility provided housing and care for as many as six thousand former soldiers, effectively serving as a small city dedicated to those who had sacrificed their health for the crown. The gilded dome that crowns the site was built to be the most visible symbol of royal power, and today it shelters the monumental red quartzite sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte, placed directly beneath its peak to command the attention of every visitor.