Les Invalides, la chapelle Royale(english)

THE ROYAL CHAPEL OF THE DOME ‘S CHURCH

·        the Church saint Louis des Invalides is divided in two chapels : the soldiers

Chapel and the royal chapel.

Indeed King Louis XIV commissioned Jules Hardouin Mansart to design a chapel that would complete the Invalides building of Liberal Bruant and embody the splendour of Louis the XIVth reign.

And it's one of the major masterpieces of the french classical style. the works began in 1677 and were completed in 1706.

·        the facade is quite sober. The two first levels show a superposition of two

greek orders : doric and corinthian, crowned by a triangular pediment.

The columns lighten the lower part of the building which is square in shape, like a block (flanked by the statues of carlomagnus and Saint Louis). And these columns lead our eyes to the most important part of the Church : the dome. So the block simbolizes the Earth and the dome the Celestial World.

·        the dome is composed of two parts : the drums is punctuated with twelve

openings framed by pilasters. The base of the dome forms an attique surrounded by round arched windows. The roof consists in lead sheeting fixed by copper nails to a wooden frame-work. It was gilded for the first time in 1715.

And in 1989, 200 years after the French revolution the roof was regilded with 12kg of gold leaf.

 It's decorated with trophes and guarlands and urns. A lantern and a spire with a cross crown the edifice that rises in 107 m into the sky.

·        the layout of the royal Chapel represents a greek cross, the Chapel is

 caraterized by a cupola on pendentives. It rests on 4 big pilars. These pilars were constructed (opened) to house large chapels.

The architect Hardouin Mansart was inspired by a plan drawn by his uncle Francois Mansart. He designed the Necropolis for the Borbons near the Basilica of saint Denis. But it was never built.

·        the inner decoration is really rich and glorifies God and the monarchy. It's

 illustrated with low reliefs, pilasters, and the marble roof where you notice the monogramm of Louis XIV.

·        the iconography is completly linked to the structure. For instants, the four

chapels are dedicated to the Church Fathers, on the pendentives are represented the 4 Evangelists. And the 12 bays present the Apostles and at the top of the Cupola is depicted the Celestial World with the Apostheosis of Saint Louis. Saint Louis is giving his sword to God.

·        You notice that we see only the windows of the drums, the upper openings

are located behind the twelve panels.

Actually there are two cupolas : one springs from the clerestory windows and

the second one is the calotte. This ingenious system is a masterpiece of J. H. Mansart : the windows behind the truncated cupola bring light to the upper cupola. But you can't see it to the naked eye : there's an optical effect.

* In the XIXth C, the chapel became a military mausoleum and in 1842 after the

 return of Napoleon's body, Visconti enlarged the High altar and had the crypt dug to receive the "Eagle's sarcophagus". Visconti replaced the original canopy made of marble and decorated with dusty twisted columns. In 1873 The royal Chapel was separated from the soldiers chapel by a big window.