Believe it or not, I had never been inside
Saint-Louis des Invalides, the church that is adjacent to the Hotel des Invalides, which was built during the 17th century by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. It's broken down into two parts, one of each (in this photo) being called "the soldiers's church" (you can see the glass partition in the very background of this photo). The whole place is really beautiful, but the most beautiful one is, in my opinion, this stunning metal door at the entrance. Another interesting fact: on both sides of the church, you can see flags; they are "war trophies", from the conquests of Napoleon!
Beautiful indeed! Gorgeous door!
ReplyDeleteI cannot count how many times I have passed this; and have not gone inside. That was interesting about the flags Eric. Merci for sharing -- I have now gone inside "virtually".
ReplyDeleteStunning, indeed!
ReplyDeleteAlso in this church are celebrated the memorial services to our soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteNext one is today (at 12.00, private, for families only), and tomorrow morning ("official", "national", with both MM Hollande and Sarkozy !)
That is beautiful! I love all the light and the vaulted ceiling, but you're right, the metal door is stunning. Thank you for sharing it with us!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're playing tourist, Eric! I'm such a fan of this style. The gates are very beautiful. But, the right hand column is missing the gold wrapping that the left hand column has. It must be a repair. Next to this building is that fantastic military museum with the gigantic models.
ReplyDeleteI found it fascinating that the soldiers' church is separate from the other, more ornate church, where Napolean is entombed, which has quite a baldacchino that you can see through the glass in this photo. They really are very different places. Nice photo of the gates.
ReplyDeleteAnd now Jeff has introduced me to the word baldocchino. Merci, mon ami! Wiki has a cool history of the word and links to such French things as the 'Field of Cloth of Gold'.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, we all know what it looks like inside now - merci!
ReplyDeleteI've never been inside, either—so thanks! (On the other hand, the words "church" and "war trophies" in the same sentence??)
ReplyDeleteI was a soldier once and I love beautiful old churches and have been here a couple of times over the years.
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