Welcome to the magnificent Les Invalides.
Les Invalides is a building complex with three major parts; the Museum area, the church and
the dome.
In this guide I will give you the story behind the foundation of the Les Invalides, but first
of all I'd like you to take a look at the beautiful northern gate.
If you look above the entrance you will see a Latin inscription.
The inscription says "Louis the Great, by his royal generosity for his men for the continuation
of times, founded this building in 1675."
In this case, Louis the Great refers to the French ruler Louis XIV.
On the left side of the inscription sits the virtue of wisdom and on the right the virtue
of justice.
In between them you can see an equestrian statue of Louis himself and above this statue
you can also see a sun with a human face on it.
This is due to the fact that Louis XIV was during his reign commonly known as "the Sun
King".
The whole northern gate is commonly known as "Le Roi-Soleil" which means just that;
The Sun King.
On both sides of the gate you can see a large statue.
To your right you have the Roman warrior goddess and the goddess of wisdom, Minerva, accompanied
by her owl.
On your left you can see the Roman God of War, Mars, accompanied by his wolf companion.
Now, lets talk some more about the history of the Les Invalides.
The name "Les Invalides" is actually a shortened form of "Hôpital des Invalides" meaning "The
hospital for invalids".
As hinted by its full name, the building complex was originally built as a large hospital for
soldiers who had been wounded and injured during war.
As the gate told you with its Latin inscription, the hospital was initiated by Louis XIV on
November 24th 1670.
During the construction phase, Louis enlarged the project and added more structures around
the original few.
The first soldiers moved into the buildings already in 1674 and the complex was officially
opened in 1675.
When it all stood completed in 1676, the complex had fifteen courtyards and the front towards
the river measured a massive 196 meters and still stands as grand as ever, with the massive
Esplanade des Invalides to its north.
The military hospital was included in the south-east part of the complex, which was
the place where soldiers who were badly injured were treated.
The other parts of the Les Invalides, except the church and the dome structure, served
more as a hotel where soldiers who had been injured but who still could live a somewhat
normal life, lived.
For this reason, "Hôpital des Invalides" is also sometimes known as "Hôtel des Invalides".
During the end of the 17th century, Les Invalides housed in total around 4000 soldiers.
The lives of the former soldiers were much like their previous life in the barracks,
as they were divided into companies and still wore uniform.
However, instead of getting military education, they worked together in workshops, making
items such as uniforms and shoes.
The project became an example to follow for many other European countries, which soon
afterwards also opened homes for injured soldiers.
When goring through the northern gate, you will enter the largest of the Les Invalides
fifteen courtyards; the Cour d'honneur.
It was in this courtyard the larger military parades were held.
If you look at the south side of the courtyard, towards the church and the dome, you will
see that Napoleon Bonaparte still watches over his troops, even though he is a bit taller
than we are used to and made entirely out of bronze.
Today a large part of the Les Invalides is dedicated to museums, the most famous one
being the Musée de l'Armée; the Army Museum.
This museum was opened 1905 and is considered one of the greatest art and military museums
in the world.
The fact that the museum itself is located at the heart of a large historical site offers
an exceptional aspect to it which few other museums can match.