Description of the attraction
The grave of Napoleon Bonaparte is located under the gilded dome of the Cathedral of St. Louis of the House of Invalids.
As you know, Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena on May 5, 1821. In 1840, King Louis-Philippe obtained British consent to return the ashes of the exiled to France. On December 14 of the same year, the military frigate La Belle-Poole delivered the coffin to France. The next day, the body of the emperor, with a huge crowd of people, was solemnly transferred to the House of Invalids, the national necropolis of military leaders.
The coffin of Napoleon was temporarily installed in the chapel of St. Jerome until the completion of the permanent tomb. The creation of the permanent tomb took 20 years - the author of the project, architect Louis Visconti, did not live to see its completion. But the structure turned out to be extremely majestic.
A huge sarcophagus measuring 4 by 2 by 4.5 meters and weighing 35 tons was carved from Karelian porphyry, as strong as a diamond - Tsar Nicholas I presented a two-hundred-ton block of this mineral to the French government especially for the monument. They say that he joked that in Russia there will always be a stone for Napoleon.
Inside the sarcophagus there are five coffins, alternately inserted into each other, keeping the body of the emperor: tin, mahogany, two zinc and ebony. The tomb was installed on a pedestal made of greenish granite. Around are twelve winged Victories, carved by Jean-Jacques Pradier from specially selected blocks of Carrara marble. On the stone floor you can see the names of the cities near which Napoleon won victories, including Moscow.
On April 2, 1861, Napoleon's body was forever walled up in a sarcophagus - in the uniform of a commander of the guards, at the feet of the famous cocked hat. The entrance to the tomb is guarded by two colossal bronze guards holding the imperial crown, scepter and orb.
In the House of Invalids there is also an unnamed gravestone, under which the emperor lay on the island of St. Helena. The stone can be seen from the gallery that leads to the Honor Court, surrounded on four sides by the buildings of the House of Invalids.
