Napoleon’s tomb (French: tombeau de Napoléon) is the monument erected at Les Invalides in Paris to keep the mortal remains of Napoleon following their repatriation to France from Saint Helena in 1840, or retour des cendres, at the initiative of Louis Philippe I and his minister Adolphe Thiers. While the tomb’s planning started in 1840, it was only completed two decades later and inaugurated by Napoleon III on 2 April 1861, after its promoter Louis Philippe I, architect Louis Visconti and main sculptors James Pradier and Pierre-Charles Simart had all died in the meantime.

Background

The open crypt seen from the ground level of the Dôme des Invalides

View from the crypt’s floor towards the dome
See also: Retour des cendres
In early 1840, the government led by Adolphe Thiers appointed a twelve-member committee (Commission des douze) to decide on the location and outline of the funerary monument and select its architect. The committee was chaired by politician Charles de Rémusat and included writers and artists such as Théophile Gautier, David d’Angers and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

In April 1840, the Commission des douze organized a competition in which 81 architects participated, whose projects were exhibited in the recently completed Palais des Beaux-Arts. After a protracted process, Louis Visconti was selected as project architect in 1842 and finalized his design around mid-1843.[1]

Napoleon is interred in this grand, 1677 Musée de l’Armée structure with a painted domed roof.

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Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte

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Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte

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