Le Musée de Plans-Reliefs

Le Musée de Plans-Reliefs (Relief Map Museum), located within the Hôtel National des Invalides, displays 28 examples of a collection of relief maps of fortified towns, made between 1668 and 1875. These impressive scale models were used as strategic planning tools and symbols of mastery of the territory.

Relief maps were invented in the 17th century when Louvois, Louis XIV's Minister of War, commissioned Vauban to make a scale model of the city of Dunkirk.

Hôtel national des Invalides, opened in in 1674, was created by Louis XIV for the veterans of his army in the from of a veritable city with a hospice, barracks, convent, hospital and factory. Today it houses the Musée de l'Armée, the Museum of the Order of the Liberation, the Relief Map Museum. The Invalides also includes the Dôme des Invalides, the former royal chapel, which is housing the Tomb of Napoleon I and several other mausoleums.

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