Editing Les Invalides (section)

==History==
[[File:Colonnade des Invalides.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Mansard's original plan for Les Invalides (about 1700)]]
[[Louis XIV]] initiated the project by an order dated 24 November 1670 to create a home and hospital for aged and disabled ({{lang|fr|invalide}}) soldiers, the veterans of his many military campaigns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.citibreak.fr/the-paris-army-museum-hotel-des-invalides/|title=The Paris Army Museum – Hôtel des Invalides|work=citibreak.fr|access-date=29 September 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150227043055/http://blog.citibreak.fr/the-paris-army-museum-hotel-des-invalides/|archive-date=27 February 2015}}</ref> The initial architect of {{lang|fr|Les Invalides|italic=no}} was [[Libéral Bruant]]. The selected site was in the then suburban plain of Grenelle (''plaine de Grenelle''). By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the façade fronting the [[Seine]] measured {{convert|196|m|ft}} in width, and the complex had fifteen courtyards, the largest being the [[cour d'honneur]] designed for military parades. The church-and-chapel complex of the Invalides was designed by [[Jules Hardouin-Mansart]] in 1676, taking inspiration from his great-uncle [[François Mansart]]'s design for a {{ill|Chapelle des Bourbons|fr}} to be built behind the chancel of the [[Basilica of Saint-Denis]], the French monarch's necropolis since ancient times. Several projects were submitted in the mid-1660s by both Mansart and [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]], who was residing in Paris at the time. Mansart's second project is very close to Hardouin-Mansart's concept of the Royal Chapel or Dome Church at {{lang|fr|Les Invalides|italic=no}}, both in terms of its architecture and of its relationship with the adjacent church. Architectural historian [[Allan Braham]] has hypothesized that the domed chapel was initially intended to be a new burial place for the Bourbon Dynasty, but that project was not implemented.<ref>{{citation|title=L'Eglise du Dome |author=Allan J. Braham |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |volume=23:3/4 |date=July–December 1960 |issue=3/4 |pages=216–224 |publisher=The Warburg Institute |doi=10.2307/750592 |jstor=750592 |s2cid=195018409 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/750592}}</ref> Instead, the massive building was designated as the private chapel of the monarch, which was attached to the Cathedral attended by the veterans. The Dôme des Invalides remains as one of the prime exemplars of [[French Baroque architecture]], at {{convert|107|m|ft}} high, and also as an iconic symbol of France's [[absolute monarchy]].

The interior of the dome was painted by [[Charles Le Brun|Le Brun]]'s disciple [[Charles de La Fosse]] with a Baroque [[illusionistic ceiling painting]]. The painting was completed in 1705.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/collections/museum-treasures/object.html?tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bobject%5D=576&tx_mdaobjects_object%5BidContentPortfolio%5D=537&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Baction%5D=show&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bcontroller%5D=Object&cHash=3de2ac9a42555d48a3003366102d4385|title=Apotheosis of Saint Louis – Musée de l'Armée|website=www.musee-armee.fr|language=en|access-date=2017-01-27}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant with the [[Cathedral of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, Paris]], which was finished to Bruant's design after the latter died in 1697. Daily attendance of the veterans in the church services was required. Shortly after the veterans' chapel was started, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel, now named its most striking feature. The Dome chapel was finished in 1706.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Stichting invalides.jpg|Louis XIV views the plans of {{lang|fr|Les Invalides|italic=no}}
File:Louis XIV Invalides Pierre Denis Martin.JPG|''Visit of Louis XIV to {{lang|fr|Les Invalides}}'' (about 1706). Painting by [[Pierre-Denis Martin (1663–1742)|Pierre-Denis Martin]]
File:Hyacinthe Rigaud 1685 Jules-Hardouin Mansart-001.JPG|Portrait of Hardouin-Mansart by [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]] showing the Dome, [[Louvre]]
File:Veron-Bellecourt - Napoléon Ier visitant l'infirmerie des Invalides, 11 février 1808.jpg|[[Napoleon I]] visiting the infirmary of {{lang|fr|Les Invalides|italic=no}}
</gallery>
Because of its location and significance, the Invalides served as the scene for several key events in French history. On 14 July 1789, it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized the cannons and muskets stored in its cellars to use against the [[Bastille]] later the same day. Napoleon was entombed under the Dome of the Invalides with a grand ceremony in 1840. The separation between the two churches was reinforced in the 19th century with the erection of [[Napoleon's tomb]], the creation of the two separate altars, and the construction of a glass wall between the two chapels.

The building retained its primary function as a retirement home and hospital for military veterans (''invalides'') until the early twentieth century. In 1872, the musée d'artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées (Historical Museum of the Armies) in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present musée de l'armée in 1905. At the same time, the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris. The reason was that adopting a mainly conscript army after 1872 meant a substantial reduction in the number of veterans having the twenty or more years of military service formerly required to enter the Hôpital des Invalides. The building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does, however, still include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers.

When the Army Museum at {{lang|fr|Les Invalides|italic=no}} was founded in 1905, the veterans' chapel was placed under its administrative control. It is now the cathedral of the [[Diocese of the French Armed Forces]], officially known as Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides.<ref>Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides [http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/collections/museum-spaces/cathedral-of-saint-louis-des-invalides.html (online)], accessed 16 October 2015</ref>

===2024 Olympic venue===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Mens Individual Archery Paris 2024.jpg|Men's Individual Archery at the Les Invalides venue.
</gallery>
The Esplanade des Invalides, the expansive green space in front of the historic Hôtel des Invalides, was a key venue for multiple sports during the [[2024 Summer Olympics|Paris 2024 Summer Olympics]]. It hosted archery, para-archery, road cycling, and marathon events, with the Invalides buildings providing a unique backdrop for athletes to compete.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/venues/invalides |title=Invalides |accessdate=2024-08-11 }}</ref>