The Hôtel national des Invalides, better known simply as Les Invalides, is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, as well as museums and monuments. King Louis XIV initiated the project on 24 November 1670 as a home for aged and disabled French Army soldiers, and it was completed in 1676. On 14 July 1789, it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized its cannons and muskets to storm the Bastille prison that same day, and Napoleon I was entomed at Les Invalides in 1840. The building continued to house elderly and disabled veterans until the early 20th century, when the veterans were dispersed to smaller centers around Paris; the introduction of a conscript army in 1872 reduced the number of veterans who could earn entry into Les Invalides with twenty or more years of service, making the building too large for its original purpose. It came to house the artillery museum in 1872, the Museum of the Armies in 1896, and the Army Museum at Les Invalides in 1905.
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