Standing before the hotel is the statue of
Prince Eugene. On either side of the entrance are statues of Mars and
Minerva by Coustou the younger. In the tympanum of the semicircle over the
center of the facade is Louis XIV. on horseback. Behind the facade is a
vast courtyard surrounded by open corridors lined with frescoes of the
history of France; those of the early history on the left by Benedict
Masson, 1865, have much interest. In the center of the facade opposite the
entrance is the statue of Napoleon I. Beneath this is the approach to the
Church of St. Louis, built 1671-79, from designs of Liberal Bruant, and in
which many banners of victory give an effect of color to an otherwise
colorless building....
The Tomb of Napoleon, under the magnificent dome of the Invalides, which
was added to the original church by Jules Hardouin Mansart, and is treated
as a separate building, is entered from the Place Vauban at the back, or
by the left cloister and a court beyond.
On entering the vast interior, a huge circular space is seen to open,
beneath the cupola painted by Charles de Lafosse and Jouvenet, and, in it,
surrounded by caryatides and groups of moldering banners, the huge tomb of
Finland granite, given by the Emperor Nicholas.
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