The National Residence of the Invalids

Louis XIV built the Invalides as a hospital and home for wounded soldiers, and its scale still startles — a colossal classical façade closing the end of a long green esplanade, topped by a gilded dome that catches the light from across half of Paris.

Beneath that dome lies Napoleon. His sarcophagus of deep red quartzite rests in an open circular crypt, ringed by marble reliefs and the tombs of French marshals, arranged so that visitors must look down at him from above — a piece of deliberate theatre that works exactly as intended.

The wings around it house the Musée de l'Armée, one of the richest military collections anywhere. Rooms of medieval and Renaissance armour give way to the age of Louis XIV, the Napoleonic campaigns, and an extensive account of the Second World War, the Free French and the Resistance.