The f church o of the chuh of the Invalides cousiste of two small orders, a ve which rises a composite order of forty columns, sur mounted by a balustrade and attic, behind which swells a magnificent dome, crowned with a lantern and spire. The dome is raised ou the centre of a Greek cross on an octagonal base. It is double ; the inner dome, constructed with masonry, is spherical ; the outer, with stone and brick, is spheroidal. Its diameter is 80 feet, and its height above the ground 173 feet. The entire elevation to the top of the cross is 342 feet. The dome of the Invalides forms a magnificent feature in some of the perspectives of Paris. Under the dome the magnificent tomb of Napoleon I., the noblest work of Visconti, is erected. Thia tomb and the grand altar, by the same architect, are among the finest specimens of architecture in Paris. To the west of the Invalides is the Ecole Militaire, now converted into barracks; in front of which is the Champ-de-Mars, a vast parallelogram, 950 yards long and 456 yards wide, surrounded by a fosse, masonry, and terraces. Races are held here annually, and the troops are reviewed in the Champ-de-Mars. The beautiful bridge of Jena crosses the Seine at the north-west end of the Champ-de-Mars, leading to the Avenuede-Longchamps outside, the barrier. On the southern side of the Avenue-de-Saxe, which leads from the Place-de-Fontenoy (opposite the southern entrance of the Ecole Militaire) to the great avenue south of the luvalides, are the abattoir and artesian well of Grenelle.
The church de-la-Madeleine is in exterior form a Corinthian peripteral temple, upon a noble scale. On the pediment is a magnificent baa-relief containing nineteen figures, representing Christ granting pardon to Mary Magdalene, surrounded by emblematic figures. The dimensions are 328 feet by 138 feet, independently of the projection of the flights of steps at each end, which make the total length of the base or sub structure 418 feet ; the stylobate, ou which the columns are raised, is about 13 feet high ; the height of the columns 62 feet ; that of the entablature nearly 14 feet, and the entire height from the ground to the apex of the pediment 116 feet. There are iu all 52 columns ; eight at each end, and twenty along each side, those at the angles being reckoned again. The door of the south or principal entrance is 32 feet high by 16 feet wide, and is of bronze, with ten panels sculptured in relief, with subjects illustrative of the Ten Command ments. The interior, which is a simple nave, with three chapels on each aide and a high altar at the apse end, measures 259 feet by 52 feet, and consists of three compartments, covered by as many flat domes, through which the building is lighted, there being no aide windows. It is adorned with a small Iouic order, which also extends round the apse. The whole of the interior is decorated with white marble and gold. The roof is entirely of iron and copper, and no timber has been used in the construction of any part of the building. The vault is covered with magnificent paintings.
The Louvre, which has long ceased to be a royal habitation, though one of the noblest palatial structures in Europe, is nearly a square, of 576 feet by 538 feet, inclosing a court 394 feet square. The celebrated
east front, or colonnade, is in a style of simple grandeur almost uupre cedented. The great painting gallery extends from the Louvre to the Tuileries, in a line of more than 1456 feet. The interior of the Louvre is splendidly decorated. The walls of the long gallery are lined throughout with paintings of the French, Flemish, German, and Italian schools. In other parts of the structure are splendid colleetiona of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian antiquities ; an unrivalled collection of paintings of the Spanish school; a museum, containing modals of everything relating to the marine, arsenals, forts, forges. vessels, &c., and a vast collection of royal armour and various articles belonging to or used by sovereigns of France from Childerio to Louis Philippe. The Louvre now forms one building with the Tuileries, as will be noticed in the sequel when speaking of the improvements made in Paris by Napoleon III. Opposite the colonnade of the Louvre is the church of St.-Germain-l'Auxerroia, originally founded by Childerio about A.D. 580. A little farther along the quay is the Place-de-ChAtelet, in which the great ChAtelet, built in 855, stood till 1802. In the centre of it is a fountain surmounted by a column 52 feet in height, and crowned with a gilt statue of Victory. The shaft of the column is encircled with bands, on which are inscribed the principal victories of Napoleon I.
The Luxembourg Palace, now the Chamber of Peers, was erected by Mary do' Medici, and is a good specimen of the Florentine style, where three orders are introduced with rusticated columns and pilas ters. It consists of a centre and two wings, which latter are connected by a screen of arcades, in continuation of the lower order, decorated in the centre with a lofty pavilion or vestibule, in three orders, and covered by a dome. One of the most splendid features of the interior is the grand staircase leading to the hall of the Peers, a magnificent apartment, 80 feet in diameter, lighted from the roof and decorated with Corinthian columns and freacoea. The gardens are beautifully laid out and planted. The grand avenue is of great length and leads to the Observatory. Marshal Ney was shot in this avenue Dec. 7,1815 : ou Dec. 7, 1854, a colossal bronze statue of the Marshal was erected on the spot. Not far from the Observatory are the Foundling Hospital and Orphan Asylum, established by St. Vincent de Paul in 1638; the cemetery of Mont Parnasse; and in the Rtie-St.-Jacques the hospital of Notre-Dame-de-Val-de-Grace and its beautiful church, founded by Louis XIV. in 1645. Opposite the north-east angle of the Palace-de Luxembourg is the Odeon theatre, the only theatre on the south side of the river. The Luxembourg contains a vast deal of flue statuary and a painting gallery. The grounds, like the gardens of the Tuileries and other places of publics resort in Paris, are embellished with statues.