Les Invalides

Sunday was a gorgeous day here in Paris and we hoped to make the most of it. Out of doors that is. Of course things rarely go as planned and Sunday was no exception. Household chores and the vagaries of life seemed to keep us tied to the apartment for half the day. But by early afternoon we were out the door and walking up to the Jussieu metro stop where we got on the no. 10, swtiched to the no. 13 at Duroc and 5 minutes later we were walking up and into the sunshine between Les Invalides and the river.

Located on the left bank in the 7th arrondisement, just across the beautiful Pont Alexandre III, and opposite the Grand Palas, Les Invalides is the site of Napoleon's tomb, Musee des Armees of course since the late 17th century home for disabled soldiers.

There was a line to buy tickets (€ 8 per person), but that gave us a chance to scan the notice board to make sure that the WWI and II galleries were in fact open. After being closed for more than a year for major rennovation, the "modern war" exhibit halls were now open to the public. Some halls are presently closed for another 1-2 years as they continue the remodeling so if the Musee des Armees is on your to-do list here in Paris check to make sure the exhibits you want to see are open. Frankly, I can only take about 5 minutes of looking medieval armor and then it's time to move on.

While the new galleries are strikingly minimalist in design layout, they are nonetheless impressive overall, and one flows from space to space, room to room effortlessly and almost without realizing it.

Interpretive signage is very well done, with plenty of in-depth explanation, in French, although there is a wide use of English.

Quite a lot of video is utilized throughout, some of which is interactive and can be accessed in French or English. Most of it inmpressive in both the themes chosen and the sheer size of the images (wide use of projection systems which cover enormous spaces).

There is, of course, a great deal of focus on uniforms and armament, particularly the former, which I'm sure will appeal to many.

The arrangement is chronological, and although these are referred to as the WW I and II galleries, in fact the tour begins in the late 19th century, and concludes in the late 1940s.

The first room consists of of enormous, and stunning paintings from the Franco-Prussian era (a book of these is available apparently in the bookshop) and one can spend 20 minutes just browsing this powerful and poignant artwork.

From there it's on to the early 20th century, and of course covers such colonial unpleasantries as the Boxer Rebellion in China before moving back to European concerns.

The WW I exhibits are very powerful, of course, given the scale of destruction and death waged on French soil. We had the recent good fortune to have visited Verdun, a large focus of the exhibit, and so it was easy to connect with quite a few of the geographic references. Naturally the focus is primarily French, with lesser exhibits given over to the allies and of course the Germans.

The WW II exhibits, ordered chronoligically, by contrast seem to have a very large focus on the German as well as British and particularly American involvement. Still they have done a superb job of outlining the awkward and confused nature of the French predicament after June of 1940, when there were in fact three Frances: the Vichy, collaborationist regime in unoccupied France, occupied France under the direction government of the Germans and then the Free French in exile under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle.

There's also quite a bit on the resistance and the contributions of French colonials as well and a very moving exhibit on the deportations to the concentration camps. Here again the museum is not afraid to grapple with an uncomfortable aspect of French history head-on. At one point you come face-to-face with a large map of the country showing all the concentration camps in France. I had no idea there were so many camps for deportations. . . .

All-in-all it's a very good exhibit and well worth the time and money. The themes are interesting, well presented and there's a great deal to be learned as well.

We had a little time left before things started to close so we wandered over to Napoleon's tomb and strolled about. We had been there before but the interior is stunning and of course some of France's great martial figures are entombed there: Napoleon of course is the center of attention and focus, of course, but off to the side is, I think, the most moving tomb, that of Ferdinand Foch, one of France's heros of the First World War.

As we left Les Invalides the sun was working its way down and had already settled below the buildings so we headed for the Metro and home.

Wish you were here,

Steve