Invalides Cathedral

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Invalides Cathedral
Invalides Cathedral
View into the dome of the Invalides

The Invalides Dome ( French Dôme des Invalides, Église du Dôme or Chapelle royale des Invalides ) is a domed building in the 7th Arrondissement in Paris and is part of the complex of the Hôtel des Invalides (home for the disabled ). It originally served as a church, but was converted into a burial place for Emperor Napoleon I in 1840 .

History and description

The Invalides Cathedral was built from 1679 to 1708 under the name Chapelle royale des Invalides according to plans by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in the classicist Baroque style and consecrated to Saint Louis . It is part of the Hôtel des Invalides , which King Louis XIV commissioned to take in and care for war invalids. A law of June 10, 1840 ordered the building to be converted into Napoleon's tomb .

The planning had to take into account the fact that the religious celebration of military glory needed two churches - one for the residents and one for the visitors. The Hôtel Royal des Invalides was not only intended to be veterans' accommodation, but Louis XIV wanted to build a memorial to heroes; the dimensions of the associated church had to be large enough to accommodate larger groups of visitors.

The solution that was found here in this large soldier complex is in so far as the two religious buildings stand with their backs to one another, represent separate units, but structurally belong together. In the back wall there is a window that faces the interior of the Invalidendome, thus connecting both church rooms spiritually.

The German name Invaliden dom, derived from the "false friend" dôme (French for dome), misleadingly suggests that it is a cathedral, and leads to frequent confusion with the Cathédrale Saint-Louis, which is also dedicated to Saint Louis and belongs to the Invalidenheim. des-Invalides .

Since the early 19th century, the longitudinal building adjoining the central building to the north has been an independent church with the name Eglise des Soldats , separated by a large glass wall . Originally, this room was the area of ​​the invalids as the choeur des pensionnaires , a building idea that goes back to the monastic choirs of early modern monastery churches . The residents of the home watched the service from here; they were not allowed to enter the dome room.

Several pieces of evidence indicate that Louis XIV initially planned the domed church as his mausoleum . It then became a kind of royal and state church which, in the spirit of Gallicanism , was supposed to express the position of the French ruler as head of a national church. This is one of the reasons why the church is reminiscent of St.

The Invalides Dome is vaulted by a double-shell dome, which allows indirect lighting of the dome image. Inside there are images of French kings and apostles . The lower church space of the central building and the annex for the invalids were already completed in 1679, the dome not until 1690 by Robert de Cotte and Pierre Lassurance . Hardouin-Mansart was not originally intended to be the builder, as the construction management of the home was in the hands of Libéral Bruant , who was also supposed to build the church, but had reached his limits with it.

Hardouin-Mansart's uncle was the famous François Mansart , who in 1665 presented the design of a mausoleum for the Bourbon royal family at the Saint-Denis abbey near Paris. This draft already shows the main structural ideas of the Invalides Cathedral.

During World War II - the Invalides Cathedral was used by the Wehrmacht as a barracks - US , Canadian and British pilots and members of the Resistance hid in the dome for months, who were looked after by the "rabbit mother" Mme Mourin. Around 100 people escaped the German occupiers. In 1944 a neighbor reported the hiding place to the Germans, whereupon the resistance group was disbanded.

In July 1989, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was the first woman ever to have her last honor (funeral ceremony) in the Invalides after her death, although she was subsequently buried in Père Lachaise .

Napoleon's grave

Napoleon's crypt in the Invalides

Napoleon's express wish to be buried “on the banks of the Seine” was not granted until 1840, 19 years after his death on St. Helena . In that year, after lengthy negotiations with England , the French July monarchy received permission to transfer the emperor's body from British possession to France. The coffin was buried on December 15, 1840 in the Chapelle Saint-Jérôme , a side chapel of the Invalides, and after the excavation and decoration of the crypt, which dragged on for twenty years, it was finally placed in the sarcophagus in the basement on April 2, 1861 .

The crypt, which was built according to the designs by Louis Visconti and opened upwards, is located exactly under the dome. The huge sarcophagus made of chocolate quartzite (from Schokschinsk on Lake Onega ), placed in the middle, contains five nested coffins.

The stairs to the crypt are located behind the main altar, also designed by Visconti, which takes up the shape of its predecessor from the 17th century. Historical reliefs show the transfer of the body to Paris. A lower handling around the inaccessible sarcophagus opens to the middle on a pillar position , with the twelve pillars grieving Victorias are presented. They stand for the great military victories whose names are carved: Rivoli , the Pyramids , Marengo , Austerlitz , Jena , Wagram , Friedland and Moscow . Marble reliefs on the walls show the deeds and achievements of the deceased in an antique style.

More graves

Tomb of Joseph Bonaparte

Famous French military figures were buried in the Invalides . So rest here among other things

The names of the three officers who led the Foreign Legion at the Battle of Camerone are also carved here .

Marshal Jean-Marie de Lattre de Tassigny does not rest in the Invalides, but in his birthplace Mouilleron-en-Pareds ( Département Vendée ). On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of the Marshal, the French President Jacques Chirac unveiled a plaque of honor in the adjoining Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides in January 2002 .

  • View of the altar

  • Invalides at night

  • View from the Seine

  • from the south

  • dome

  • View from the Montparnasse tower

  • North facade

literature

  • Patrik Reuterswärd: The two churches of the Hôtel des Invalides. A history of their design (= National Museum striftserie. Vol. 11). Stockholm 1965.
  • Dietrich Erben: Paris and Rome. The state-controlled art relations under Ludwig XIV. Academy, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-05-003851-9 , Chapter V.4: “The Invalides. Political and Christian Universalism ”, pp. 341–372 (preview) .

Web links

Commons : Invalides  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theo Koll, Morad Aït-Habbouche: Above the roofs of Paris. (Video) (No longer available online.) In: ZDFmediathek . Archived from the original on November 24, 2010 ; accessed on June 15, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zdf.de
  2. ↑ Unveiling of the roll of honor on the 50th anniversary of the death of Marshal Jean-Marie de Lattre de Tassigny  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.elysee.fr  

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 18 ″  N , 2 ° 18 ′ 44 ″  E