Hotel des Invalides
From Paris Hotels Reviews
Hotel des Invalides
On the Left Bank of the Pont Alexandre III, the green Esplanade des Invalides parades down towards the resplendently gilded dome of the Hôtel des Invalides. Despite its palatial appearance, it was built as a home for wounded soldiers in the reign of Louis XIV – whose foreign wars gave the building a constant supply of residents and whose equestrian statue lords it over a massive central arch. Architecturally, the building is a kind of barracks version of the awesome spirit of Versailles, stripped of finer flourishes – other than the gilded dome – but crushingly grand nonetheless. Even the cobbles on the esplanade seem made for giants’ feet.
