Monday, September 9, 2024 – The French Army Museum.

The Church of the Dome at the Army Museum.

This morning I decided to visit the French Army Museum. It was a 45 minute walk through the drizzle from my hotel to the Army Museum but I need the exercise.

The entrance to the museum. It opened at 10:00. I got there at 9:45 and I was first in line. Go to this museum if you want to avoid the crowds at the more well known Paris museums.

Pro tip on this museum. The exhibit explanations are printed in French and English.

This is the side of the board that has the French language exhibit explanation. Do you see the British flag and the arrow at the lower right hand corner of the board? When you turn the board like you would turn the page in a book you reveal the English language exhibit explanation.

I am too embarrassed to tell you how long it took me to figure out how to turn the exhibit explanation boards to reveal the English language explanations.

I spent the morning in 15th through 17th century arms and armor wing of the museum. I have no idea how they have gathered together and preserved so many arms, armor and uniforms from this time period.

I especially enjoyed the Napoleon wing of the museum.

Napoleon’s coronation as Emperor of the French.

Napoleon on his way to exile on the island of Corsica. Napoleon was an amazing figure in the military, political and cultural history of France.

Throughout the Napoleon wing of the museum they had these four by eight foot TV screens. Each screen was dedicated to one of Napoleon’s battles. Each screen showed a 10 minute short film depicting the battlefield terrain and the movements of Napoleon’s forces and the opposition forces, with a description of the battle streaming across the bottom of the screen. What a fascinating way to illustrate Napoleon’s military genius.

The World Wars wing of the museum was absolutely chock full of World War One and Two armaments and uniforms.

There must have been over 100 exhibit spaces like this in the World Wars wing of the museum.

I especially liked this tiny Shrine Circus Parade motorcycle the American paratroopers used as part of their parashoot drop on D-Day.

France paid a soul numbing price for its pyrrhic victory in World War One.

There are two churches in the museum complex. The first church is the Church of the Dome.

This is the dome from the inside of the church.

And this is Napoleon’s tomb from the floor of the church. Napoleon’s tomb is in a circular open vault in the floor of the church under the dome. The circular vault is at least 20 feet deep with a circumference of at least 200 feet.

This is a view of Napoleon’s sarcophagus from the floor of the open circular vault. The altar is in the background of this picture.

The Cathedral of Saint Louis.
This is the second church in the museum complex.

I love military history and I loved this museum. if you don’t like military history you might want to skip this museum but you MUST go to the Church of the Dome and Napoleon’s tomb. It is absolutely amazingly beautiful.

I stayed at the museum until 5:00 and then trudged back towards my hotel. I was about a block away from my hotel when a waiter saw me scanning a menu outside his restaurant and he told me that if I dined with him I would have a fabulous meal.