Hôtel des Invalides

The Cathedral of the Invalides (Hôtel des Invalides) is formally called the Hôtel national des Invalides  is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a nursing home for war veterans - the original purpose of the building. The buildings house a museum of the army, a military museum of the French army, a museum of relief plans and a museum of modern history, as well as the House of the Invalids, a large church, the highest in Paris at an altitude of 107 meters, with the tombs of some of the heroes of the French war, and also, first of all Napoleon.

Louis XIV initiated the project, by order of November 24, 1670, as a home and hospital for the elderly and unhealthy soldiers: the name is an abbreviated form of hôpital des invalides. Liberal Bruant was the architect of the House of Invalids. The chosen site was on the then suburban plain of Grenelle (plaine de Grenelle). By the time the extended project was completed in 1676, the river front reached 196 meters and the complex had fifteen courtyards, the largest of which was the cour d'Honneur (“courtyard of honor”) for military parades.

Then it was believed that the veterans needed a chapel. Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was completed in 1679 by Bruant after the death of the senior architect. This chapel was called Église Saint-Louis des Invalides (Church of Saint Louis), and it required the daily attendance of veterans for church services. Soon after the completion of the Veterans' Chapel, Louis XIV commissioned Mansar to build a separate private Royal Chapel, called the Église du Dôme (domed church), because of its most striking feature. The domed chapel was completed in 1793.

Because of their location and importance, the disabled have served as the stage for several key events in French history. On July 14, 1789, it was taken by storm by the Parisian rebels, who captured the cannons and muskets stored in its basements to be used against the Bastille later that day.

Napoleon was buried under the dome of the Invalides in a grand ceremony in 1840. In December 1894, the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was carried out in front of the main building, and his subsequent rehabilitation took place in the courtyard of the complex in 1906.

The building retained its main function as a nursing home and hospital for war veterans (invalids) until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1872, the building housed the Museum of Artillery, which in 1896 was joined by the Historical Museum of the Army (Musée historique des armées). In 1905, the two institutions were merged to form the current Army Museum. At the same time, the veterans who were at the residence were dispersed in small centers outside Paris.

The reason was that the adoption of a predominantly conscripted army, after 1872, meant a significant reduction in the number of veterans who had twenty years or more of military service - previously required for admission to the hospital for the disabled. Accordingly, the building became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex, however, still includes facilities for about a hundred elderly or disabled former soldiers.

We offer excursions to the Cathedral of the Invalids. External inspection of the Cathedral of Invalids is provided during a sightseeing tour of Paris.

More information You can find at the official website of the Official website of Hôtel des Invalides 

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