# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HARDOUIN-MANSART, Jules]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary Hardouin-Mansart created the most mature structure of French Baroque. In 1676, he had taken over the direction of the Invalides hospital, begun six years previously by Libéral Bruant \(c. 1635-1697\); this was a royal endowment to care for retired soldiers. With the church of Les Invalides, dedicated in 1706, the combination of the nave structure of the simple soldiers' church with a central building produced a magnificent synthesis of two architectural forms, the square substructure with a portal frontage and a dominant tambour and dome. The central structure of the complex and the decoration suggest that Louis XIV intended this as his mausoleum. However, in 1861, Visconti had a crypt built in the centre of the cathedral and Napoleon was buried there. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/h/hardouin/invalides.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</a> of Les Invalides, Paris. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Château de Marly-le-Roi]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [Exterior view]() - [General view]() - [General view]() - [General view]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()