Hearing the name Les Invalides, you are more likely to expect a dreary almshouse. But not when it comes to Les Invalides in Paris! This classical palace with gilded domes and stucco decorations was indeed created as a charitable home for former soldiers of the French army, yet it looks royally luxurious.
It was built in 1671 by order of Louis XIV, who wanted to raise the prestige of military service in the eyes of the French while also clearing thousands of homeless people from the streets of Paris. In the preceding years France had fought many wars; after each one, maimed veterans were left behind who could not work, so they lived by begging. The creation of the first veterans' home in Europe solved this problem: those who had suffered for France gained a comfortable home, care, and work in the local workshops.
Les Invalides is impressive in scale: not every palace has such dimensions - 400 by 450 meters, 196 meters across the facade, and more than 16 kilometers of corridors. Most striking of all is the magnificent cathedral with Greek columns, crowned by a grand gilded dome whose spire rises 106 meters.
Today Les Invalides still provides shelter for army veterans, but for the most part it has become a museum and historical complex. Its necropolis contains the graves of both unknown soldiers and France's greatest military commanders. The sarcophagus containing Napoleon's ashes, located in the cathedral, attracts special attention.
The buildings of Les Invalides house extensive military museums: the Army Museum, the Museum of Plans-Reliefs, the Museum of the Order of the Liberation, and the Museum of Contemporary History.
