The Hôtel Des Invalides was built by King Louis The Fourteenth as a home for soldiers who had been wounded in action.

Following completion of the first building construction began on the equally impressive, Dome Des Invalides. Since then the Hôtel Des Invalides has replaced its injured soldiers with a military exhibition: today part of the Hôtel contains one of the most important museum’s of military history in the world.

Napoleon would most likely have approved the Musée De Lármée, today’s Army Museum. It contains around forty thousand exhibits including a large number of valuable weapons and armour. The collection also comprises numerous objects that date from ancient times to the present day.

The crypt of the Dome Des Invalides was specially redesigned and embellished by famous architect, Visconti, in order that it would be suitable to house the final remains of the once all-powerful Napoleon Bonaparte. Twelve great goddesses of victory, who symbolised the French people, surround his sarcophagus of Finnish porphyr that lies within the crypt.