Les Invalides
Les Invalides
Les Invalides
Musée de l'Armée PARIS
The Dôme des Invalides is a famous landmark in Paris with an unmistakable golden dome. Home to Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb, the chapel is part of a complex of buildings called Les Invalides or the Hôtel des Invalides along with the massive military museum.
Find your Online-Ticket for EUR 16
Opening Hours:
Daily, 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday until 9.00 p.m.
My rating:
The positives:
The Dôme des Invalides is a seriously impressive building with a golden dome and special atmosphere. There’s so much to see inside the adjoining cathedral and museums too.
The negatives:
Cannons and tanks greet you at the entrance to the museum and the exhibition on the two world wars is not exactly easy-going. But it’s still well worth visiting!
Top Tip:
Make sure you pick up an audio guide. The complex is massive and there are so many sub-exhibitions that there’s a good chance you’ll lose track completely otherwise...
Last Modified: 18.01.2024 | Céline & Anne
Les Invalides
Tickets
The details
at a glance
Opening hours
The cash desks close 30 minutes before the building closes.
In the context of exhibitions, there may be extended opening times.
French Christmas and Easter holidays: only open until 5.30 p.m
July + August: Napoleon’s tomb open until 7 p.m
Public holidays:
Closed January 1st, May 1st and December 25th.
Prices
EUR 15 for adults
EUR 12 for war veterans, groups of more than 10 people and every day in summer from 5 p.m. and in winter from 4 p.m
Free entry for children under 18, people with disabilities, French and foreign soldiers in uniform
Paris Museum Pass
The Paris Museums Pass is available for 2, 4 or 6 days.
-> More about the Paris Museums Pass
Les Invalides
Photo Gallery
What is there
to see?
There’s so much more to Les Invalides than just the Dôme des Invalides! You might not have realised it, but the famous landmark is part of the military museum. And the museum exhibitions actually take up much more of the space in the complex.
Here’s what you can explore at Les Invalides:
(1) The Invalides Cathedral (Dôme des Invalides) with the tomb of Napoleon I.
(7) The Soldiers’ Church (Cathédrale Saint-Louis)
(2-6) The Army Museum (Musée de l’Armée)
The Court of Honour (Cour d’honneur)
(10) The Museum of Relief Plans (Musée des Plans Reliefs)
(9) The Museum of the Order of Liberation (Musée de L’Ordre de la Liberation)
Dome des Invalides
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Cathédrale Saint-Louis
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Military Museum
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A bit of History
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Napoleon's tomb
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Dôme
des Invalides
The Dôme des Invalides is one the most famous landmarks of Paris. The glistening golden dome of the baroque chapel is 100 metres tall. And Napoleon Bonaparte is buried underneath it in an open crypt.
The crypt and the burgundy-coloured sarcophagus are right in the middle of the chapel.
To see where Napoleon is buried for yourself, you need to head down the stairs by the altar with Jesus Christ on the cross. You can then explore the tomb and admire the symbolic sculptures up close.
Other famous figures are buried in the side chapels here, including Napoleon’s brothers, his son and two marshals who played key roles in World War I – Ferdinand Foch and Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey.
Ready for another unexpected feature? The window behind the altar connects the Dôme des Invalides to the Saint-Louis Cathedral.
Cathèdrale
St. Louis des Invalides
Inside the Saint-Louis Cathedral, the walls are adorned with flags seized from enemy armies as trophies. It’s fascinating that the cathedral is dedicated to both holy and human moments. Monuments and plaques in the side chapels and the columns pay tribute to the fallen soldiers of the French army. But then there’s also a Way of the Cross and sculptures and paintings depicting Jesus on the cross, in the tomb and after his resurrection.
If you can picture it, the Dôme des Invalides and the Saint-Louis Cathedral are back to back. This meant that the King and his soldiers could attend mass at the same time while still following the protocol of using different entrances.
These days, there’s still a distinction between the two spaces, with the Dôme des Invalides open for visitors and the Saint-Louis Cathedral providing a place of worship for local former soldiers.
Musée de l'Armée
MASSIVE MILITARY MUSEUM
And finally it’s time to explore the military museum. There are plenty of collections on display here and they’re divided up by theme.
In the old zone, you can explore collections of arms and armour dating back to the 12th to 20th century from all around the world. The rooms are filled with murals and paintings. Knives, daggers, swords, sabres, pistols, revolvers, rifles, helmets, armour, chain mail, shields – the museum has every piece of military equipment imaginable.
If you can manage to forget about what the weapons would have been used for, you might even be able to admire how beautifully made and decorated they are. And actually, that serves as a stark reminder of the extent to which war has been waged throughout history to demonstrate power and influence, as well as to acquire new territory through force.
The modern zone (covering the period between Louis XIV and Napoleon III) is home to another large collection of weapons. And there are also plenty of uniforms, medals and other equipment here. Including Napoleon’s signature bicorn hat with two corners, of course.
Paintings and life-size statues are used to portray France’s military, political and social history. The metre-long wall mural showing a panoramic view of the Battle of Moscow is a sight to behold as an uncensored portrayal of death and destruction.
By contrast, Napoleon’s horse might make you smile to yourself. Vizir is life-size, with his skin having been preserved so well that you can still see the royal brand.
The contemporary zone presents the history of the French army after 1871, with a focus on the two world wars. As you might expect, there’s even more uniforms, weapons and other war paraphernalia. But there are also objects from the front line, soldiers’ belongings and propaganda materials.
Detailed information on each of the wars and conflicts is presented in both French and English. It’s in this part of the museum that war comes across most clearly as cruel and barbaric, futile and senseless in the photos, paintings and written text.
You can also explore the cour d’honneur (courtyard), the Musée des Plans-Reliefs (Museum of Relief Maps) and the Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération, which is dedicated to the Order Of Liberation created in 1940 by Charles de Gaulle to strengthen the French resistance.
Les Invalides
A BIT OF HISTORY
By order of Louis XIV, a hospital and hospice for old and wounded soldiers was built in 1670. Libéral Bruant was the first architect to work on the Hôtel des Invalides. He designed the square building with the courtyard in the middle.
When Jules Hardouin-Mansar took over the project in 1676, he built a royal chapel – what is now the Dôme des Invalides – and a connecting place of worship for soldiers – that’s the Saint-Louis Cathedral. This design meant that King Louis XIV and his soldiers could enter through two separate entrances, as dictated by protocol, but still attend mass together. The pane of glass in the opening between the two parts of the building wasn’t added until 1870.
On 14 July 1789, the Hôtel des Invalides was stormed by rioters, who took the weapons stored there for the Storming of the Bastille. During the Revolution, the Dôme des Invalides became the temple of the god Mars. It took a great deal of effort to maintain the complex in its entirety, but it stood firm as a symbol of military and royal power.
In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to turn the Dôme des Invalides into a military resting place. Napoleon himself was initially buried on the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. But King Louis-Philippe had his remains transferred to the Dôme des Invalides in a ceremonial procession in 1840. Following extensive excavation and restoration work on the crypt led by architect Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti, Napoleon was finally laid to rest there in 1861. He had always wanted to be buried on the banks of the Seine…
The Hôtel des Invalides had also been serving as a museum since 1777. After the war between France and Germany in 1870, the building was used less and less as a military hospital and work to convert the space into museums began in earnest. The artillery museum was established in 1871 and the historical military museum followed 25 years later. The two museums were merged in 1905. The Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération was added in 1970. The military governor of Paris has been based at Les Invalides since 1897.
During World War I, the Hôtel des Invalides became a patriotic place. German trophies were displayed in the courtyard and there was no end of ceremonies on site. In 1940, the German army occupied the complex and made good use of the spoils in the military museum.
After the war had ended, extensive renovation work was carried out on every part of the building. The golden dome was restored in 1989, while the entire military museum was renovated in 2010. Ceremonies to honour fallen soldiers are still a regular occurrence at Les Invalides. The French Ministry of Defence is based there too. And, in fact, the original function as a hospital and hospice for wounded soldiers has also been preserved.
Dôme des Invalides
NAPOLEON’S TOMB
Napoleon Bonaparte, France’s most famous military commander, is buried in an open crypt directly beneath the golden dome of the Dôme des Invalides.
His remains were laid to rest in a burgundy-coloured sarcophagus that’s made of quartzite and rests on a green granite stand. The decoration is modest and minimal. Most unusual for Napoleon, who was known for caring about every last detail.
The ornate decoration of the crypt is more what we’d expect! And it’s dedicated to Napoleon’s battles. Eight places where Napoleon was victorious are engraved in the colourful marble floor around the base. The statues in front of the twelve columns around the sarcophagus are symbolic of his successful military campaigns.
In the corridor surrounding the tomb, relief panels on the walls depict Napoleon’s political achievements within France during his time in office. Examples include the Civil Code, the Imperial University, the centralised administrative system and iconic buildings. At the back of the crypt, there’s a statue representing Napoleon as a Roman emperor.
Napoleon Bonaparte died on 5 May 1821 on the island of Saint Helena, where he had been in exile since 1815. With his supporters advocating for an empire under his nephew, Napoleon III, after his death, his body was moved to Paris in 1840, almost 20 years later.
Napoleon had always wanted to be buried on the banks of the Seine, so the Dôme des Invalides was renovated to make his dying wish come true. The official burial took place on 2 April 1861.
“It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.”
Official Webseite of the Invalidendoms & Armeemuseums (FR, ES, EN, DE): www.musee-armee.fr
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2019 – 2024
With the support of Anne Okolowitz
Image rights site plan: @ Copyright 2021 – Musée de l’Armée
