The Tomb of Napoleon, under the magnificent dome of the Invalides, which
was added to the original church by Jules Hardouin Mansart, and is treated
as a separate building, is entered from the Place Vauban at the back, or
by the left cloister and a court beyond.

On entering the vast interior, a huge circular space is seen to open,
beneath the cupola painted by Charles de Lafosse and Jouvenet, and, in it,
surrounded by caryatides and groups of moldering banners, the huge tomb of
Finland granite, given by the Emperor Nicholas. Hither the remains of the
great Emperor were brought back from St. Helena by the Prince de
Joinville, in 1841, tho Louis Philippe, while adopting this popular
measure as regarded the dead, renewed the sentence of exile against the
living members of the Bonaparte family.

Four smaller cupolas encircle the great dome. In the first, on the right,
is the tomb of Joseph Bonaparte. On the left are the tombs of Jerome
Bonaparte, with a statue, and of his eldest son and the Princess Catherine
of Wurtemberg. The other two cupolas are still empty.

Descending the steps behind the splendid baldacchino, we find black-marble
tombs of Marshals Duroc and Bertrand guarding the approach to that of
Napoleon I. His own words, taken from his will, appear in large letters
over the entrance: "I desire my ashes to lie on the shores of the Seine
among the people of France whom I loved so deeply."

The sentiment, the tomb, and the dome have a unique splendor. A white-
marble statue of Napoleon I. by Stuart is in a black-marble chapel. His
Austerlitz sword, the crown voted by Cherbourg, and colors taken in his
different battles, were formerly shown in a "chapelle ardente."