Les Invalides, Paris

The Les Invalides is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is a complex museums and monuments mostly related to the country’s military history. It includes a hospital and retirement home dedicated to war veterans. The complex also houses the military museum of the French Army called the Musee de l’Armee, the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the tombs of Napoleon Bonaparte and other French war heroes.

Architect Liberal Bruant designed Les Invalides. The site, which was selected in the 17th century, was located in the city’s suburbs. The project was completed in 1676. Its riverfront was nearly two hundred meters wide, and the complex has a total of fifteen courtyards. The largest was the cour d’honneur, also known as the court of honor, which was used for military parades,

After several years, the veterans using the complex felt that they needed to be provided with a chapel. Bruant was assisted by the younger Jules Hardouin Mansart, and in 1679, the chapel was completed following Bruant’s design. The chapel was named Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides. Shortly after, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to make a private royal chapel separate from the Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides. It was called the Église du Dôme.