🇫🇷 Paris
Les Invalides (Napoleon's Tomb)
Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821; his remains weren't returned to France until 1840, in a wave of imperial nostalgia called the *retour des cendres* (return of the ashes).
A 17th-century veterans' hospital complex commissioned by Louis XIV, now best known for what's in the crypt under the gilded Église du Dôme: Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb, a massive red quartzite sarcophagus that you look down on from a circular gallery at floor level. Several of his marshals and family members are buried in chapels around the dome.
One museum ticket gets you the tomb, the dome, and the Musée de l'Armée — eight centuries of French military history laid out across multiple wings (medieval armor through World War II). The Napoleon-era rooms are especially deep if you've come for him.
Practical notes:
- The exterior — Esplanade des Invalides and the Cour d'honneur courtyard — is free to walk through.
- Allow 2 hours minimum for the dome + Napoleon wing. A full visit (every museum in the complex) is half a day.
- Pairs naturally with the Eiffel Tower — about a 15-minute walk apart, both on the Left Bank.
- The dome is itself one of Paris's most photographed exteriors. Sunset light on the gold leaf is something else.
Watch beforehand: The Napoleonic Wars — OverSimplified — about half an hour of stick-figure animation that maps out Napoleon's whole military career. Makes the museum exhibits much more legible.