Napoleon's Paris

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Paris and managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing.

First visit was to the very impressive Les Invalides:

I've been here a few times but not for a long time. I think they had cleaned it up since my last visit. The courtyard always reminds me of the scene in Waterloo where Napoleon says farewell to his guard (though it wasn't there):

I started off in the 'Modern' gallery (1643 to 1871) which does not seem that modern to me. Napoleon's hat, overcoat, tent, chair, camp bed and even lamp:

A Napoleonic Eagle that had seen some action:

Napoleon after his first abdication looking very different to his earlier portraits, the years of campaigning have taken a toll on him:

Marshal Massena:

There is so many fantastic items in this gallery, especially the uniforms. I moved on (via the gift shop!) to Napoleon's Tomb under the Dome of Les Invalides:

The tomb is certainly impressive and could easily be interpreted as a temple to the god Napoleon, doubtless inspired by Roman Emperors.

I then moved on to the Contemporary Gallery which covered 1871 to 1945. Again, very impressive if rather Charles de Gaulle orientated for WW2. The size of this WW1 Renault tank was noticeable, it is tiny!:

At this point gallery fatigue had set in so I missed out the Old Gallery. To do the museum justice I think you'd need a couple of days really.

Next I went to the Vendome Column. This commemorates the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 and is similar to Trajan's Column in Rome:

Another classically inspired monument is the Arc of the Carrousel, again dedicated to Napoleon's victories. This is the Arc that originally had the four horses from St. Marks in Venice on top of it. Now it has copies as the originals were returned to Venice in 1815:

Finally I went to the Louvre. I don't think there is much Napoleon related in the Louvre but did see a painting which has a bit of meaning to me:

This painting is on the front cover of the book 'Waterloo - A Near Run Thing' written by David Howarth.

The version I have was printed in 1974 and was, I think, the first book I ever had about the Napoleonic wars. I still have the book and read it sometimes, it is an excellent read and uses a lot of eye witness accounts to bring the period to life.