Invalides in Paris is a complex located at the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. Les Invalides, which is another name for this complex, contains monuments, a church, and several museums. All these sites pertain to the military history of this European country. In 1670, King Louis XIV has commissioned Liberal Bruant to design a large and beautiful structure that will become a hospital for unwell and wounded soldiers and a retirement home for war veterans in Paris. During the 6-year construction of the hopital des invalides, the project became bigger and grander. In fact, the complex consisted of 15 courtyards and was 196 meters long by the time the project was completed. The biggest courtyard of the entire compound is cour d'honneur, which is used for military parades.

A few years after Invalides in Paris was created, people thought that it might be proper for veterans to have a chapel. Thus, in 1679 the chapel was completed. Since Liberal Bruant was very old at that time, Jules Hardouin Mansart was hired to assist the architect. Nowadays, the chapel, known as Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides, is one of the buildings that tourists frequent. The large Baroque dome and the architecture of the church at the Invalides were actually derived from Rome's St Peter's Basilica. In fact, Saint Louis Church is actually considered as an epitome of Baroque architecture in France. Charles de La Fosse, which was a student of Le Brun, painted the ceiling of the church.

Some of the buildings that are located in the complex include the Musee d'Histoire Contemporaine, France's military museum Musee de l'Armee, and the Musee des Plans-Reliefs. Since this is also the burial ground for popular war heroes of France, many tourists include the Invalides in Paris as one of their top destinations in the country. Napoleon Bonaparte is the most famous person buried in this complex. Although Bonaparte's remains were initially buried on Saint Helena, King Louise Philippe ordered the remains to be brought to St Jerome's Chapel in 1840. The remains were transferred under the dome of the church at Les Invalides after the complex was renovated.

Some of the other popular people who are buried in Invalides in Paris include Napoleon’s brothers Joseph and Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon’s son Napoleon II, conqueror of Algeria and marshal of France Thomas Bugeaud, and many others. Up to the present, the compound still houses the Institution Nationales des Invalides.

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