Paris: Hotel Des Invalides & Musee Rodin

The Museum of Rodin houses the famous statue, The Thinker. Unfortunately the museum was undergoing restoration so we were not able to see any exhibitions; but we were able to walk around the gardens. Below are the two famous statues, The Thinker and the Gates of Hell, which can be found in the rose garden - I bet during the right season, it would be beautiful!

The Thinker

The Gates of Hell

Hotel Des Invalides was completed in the 17th century. It was created by Louis XIV as a home for aged soldiers and disabled veterans. During that time period the huge complex contained homes, barracks, a convent, hospital, and even a workshop. We learned that it housed up to 4,000 residents, who were then supervised by their offers and divided into working companies (so that more able-bodies patients could be guards, whereas others were in charge of tasks such as shoe repair).

Today you can spend well over a day walking around the complex. Part of the buildings are now used as an armory museum, where you can see various collections of suits of armor, uniforms, knives, firearms, cannons, etc. It was quite extensive!... and I was sad to see little suits of armor for toddlers. Apparently it is one of the largest armory museums in the world.

Another portion of the complex includes the chapel and tomb of Napoleon I. Since the buildings are gorgeous, filled with paintings and incredible details throughout, I was actually surprised to see that Napoleon's tomb is very plain - just a ginormous brown sarcophagus sitting directly under the beautiful hand-painted chapel dome. Other members of Napoleon's family as well as many of France's war heroes are also buried here.

The dome of Invalides, under which is Napoleon's tomb.

Looking up - the inside of the dome.

Napoleon's tomb.

Organ in the chapel.

Wow, we went to a lot of places in Paris - this is post #6! Only a couple more to go :)