Inside the church, two side chapels contain the tombs of Joseph and Jerôme Bonaparte. Over the tomb stands a statue by Simart representing Napoleon as a Roman emperor. Halfway along the gallery, there is a vault containing the coffin of the King of Rome, transferred there on 15th December, 1940, and placed under a marble slab in the crypt on 18th December, 1969. A circular gallery houses ten white marble bas-reliefs by Simart, all showing episodes from Napoleon’s reign. On the floor, a polychrome mosaic illustrates the main battles of the Empire, while twelve huge Victory statues by Pradier are mounted up against the pillars of the crypt. Napoleon is dressed in his Colonel’s uniform (of the cavalry of the Guard) which bears his sash of the Légion d’Honneur. The sarcophagus was put up on a green granite pedestal and contains a nest of five coffins: one made of soft iron, another of mahogany, two others of lead, and one of ebony. Above the lintel is the following inscription (an extract from Napoleon’s will): “ I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine among the people of France whom I so much loved“. This leads to a heavy bronze door (forged from cannons taken at Austerlitz) flanked by two statues. Visitors enter the crypt via a staircase. The coffin was subsequently transferred to the chapel on 2nd April, 1861, in Napoleon III’s presence and set up in a red porphyry sarcophagus in the middle of a circular uncovered crypt. In 1840, during the ‘Return of the Ashes’, a law passed on 10th June ordered the construction of the Emperor’s tomb below the dome of the Invalides.Ī national funeral was celebrated on 15th December and the body was laid to rest temporarily in the chapel of Saint-Jerôme until Visconti had completed his work. The chapel of the Invalides was built at the end of the 17th century by Jules-Hardouin Mansart and contains Napoleon’s tomb. Napoleon inspected the place and visited his men in 1808, 18. In 1815, after Napoleon’s abdication, over 5,000 survivors of the Great Army were listed there. The Hôtel des Invalides was commissioned in 1670 by Louis XIV in order to provide accommodation and hospital care for wounded soldiers.
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