It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well. – Testament of Napoleon, 2d Clause.
In 1840, Louis Philippe I obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon’s remains to France. The remains were transported aboard the frigate Belle-Poule, which
Les Invalides
had been painted black for the occasion, and on 29 November she arrived in Cherbourg. The remains were transferred to the steamship Normandie, which transported them to Le
Napoleon at Rest - Les Invalides
Havre, up the Seine to Rouen and on to Paris. On 15 December, a state funeral was held. The hearse proceeded from the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs-Élysées, across the Place de la Concorde to the Esplanade des Invalides and then to the cupola in St Jérôme’s Chapel, where it stayed until the tomb designed by Louis Visconti was completed. In 1861, Napoleon’s remains were entombed in a porphyry sarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides
