Le Dôme des Invalides seen from the Avenue de Villars.I've only been inside the cathedral once (to see the tomb), but since then I've been into the Invalides complex a couple of times. There is military museum there as well as museum dedicated to historic plans-reliefs, an amazing collection of models of battlefields, forts, and strategic towns, mostly built in between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It's very cool.
In the view above, you see the dome over the crypt. This is the rear of the church and it's physically separated from the nave which is on the other side, to the north. I think that the nave was called l'Eglise des soldats (the soldiers' or veterans' church) and the dome section was called l'Eglise du dôme (church of the dome). The two churches together were elevated to cathedral status at some point after their construction, but I can't find any specific information about that.
I took a lot of pictures of this dome from various places in the city, so you'll see it again before this series is over.
Fantastic war museum on the site as well and across the road the Rodin Museum is definately worth a squizz.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part about it is that I see it from the Rodin Museum :))
ReplyDeleteI, too, have only been there once. Did you know they actually do live TV shows from there?
ReplyDeleteIs it true some of Mr. Bonaparte are not with him?
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that you would have a picture of the tomb itself, or, more importantly, the altar and columns above it. In the right (afternoon) light, they present a fantastic scene.
ReplyDeleteleon, hold on... my visit to the Rodin museum is coming up!
ReplyDeletejudy, I have a photo of that...
starman, nope. What kind of shows?
michael, lol!
quentin, sorry. I didn't go inside this time... :)