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Les Invalides, Paris, was initially designed by Libéral Bruant (1635-97) as a hospital for disabled army veterans and completed by 1677. However, even before the completion, Louis XIV was planning a second chapel on a grander sale. In 1680 J.H. Mansart produced the final design for the Dome des Invalides, a Greek cross inscribed in a square with an attached circular presbytery. It differs from its model, S. Peter's in Rome (q.v.), in its adoption of a circular crossing with vast free-standing columns and diagonal passages to the corner chapels. Externally, a towering effect is achieved by the pointed profile of the dome, the steeple-like lantern and the unusual insertion of a tall attic above the drum. Of the three shells of the dome two are visible internally. A coffered dome with a very wide oculus opens onto a further frescoed skin, an idea which was later developed by Vittone at Vallinotto (q.v.).
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Western Europe
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