Born in Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte was a military general who conquered Europe & crowned himself the first emperor of France. After his downfall, he was exiled to the remote island of Saint-Helena where he died in 1821. Even though his request was to be laid to rest “on the banks of the Seine, among the French people I have loved so much”, his body was only brought back to Invalides in Paris in 1840. His final resting place is at the Dôme des Invalides. I visited the Musée de l’Armée a few weeks ago to see the tomb of Napoleon I.
You can see the gold dome from a distance and directly beneath this lies the remains of the great Napoleon. The day I visited, it was raining cats and dogs and it made the mood of the place very sombre. The way his tomb is placed in the centre of everything, beneath the dome is a sign of what an important historical figure he is and how much he means to France.
From Melbourne to Paris (And Back Again) 