It took thirteen kilograms of gold to gild this 110-meter-high dome, which houses Napoleon’s tomb—you can see it gleaming from within during an immersive show that tells the story of the monument

Clémentine Ponsin

 –  Journalist Publirédactionnelle

 ·  July 24, 2026

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For more than three centuries, a golden dome has towered over the sky of the 7th arrondissement. And yet, beneath this dome lies an emperor’s tomb, an architectural marvel, and an immersive experience that elevates it all.

Called AURA Invalides, this production by Moment Factory and produced by Cultival, in collaboration with the Army Museum, transforms the interior of the Dome into a nighttime spectacle of light, orchestral music, and video mapping. At the time, it was the very first AURA experience designed in France, following an inaugural version conceived a few years earlier for Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal.

A dome designed to last three centuries

To understand what this show has to offer, we must go back to 1671. It was in that year that Louis XIV began construction of the Hôtel des Invalides, intended to house soldiers wounded in his service. A few years later, architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart added the Dôme Church, completed in 1706: a dome rising to 107 meters that would remain the highest point in all of Paris until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.

Its gilding has been restored several times over the centuries, most recently in 1989 at the request of François Mitterrand. This project required more than 555, 000 sheets of gold leaf, applied one by one by master gilders, for a total weight of approximately thirteen kilograms of the precious metal.

An Emperor Beneath the Dome

Beneath this dome also rests one of the most talked-about figures in French history. The ashes of Napoleon I, repatriated from Saint Helena, were laid to rest beneath the Dome in 1840, before being placed in the tomb that can now be viewed from the circular gallery.

For fifty minutes each evening duringAURA Invalides, light, music, and video projections take over this space. The experience unfolds in three movements— Construction, Memories, and Elevation—which guide the audience through the six chapels surrounding the tomb. Everyone is free to move about, sit, or stand, in a stroll designed as a collective experience rather than a simple guided tour.

Practical Information

Dôme des Invalides, 2 place Vauban, 75007 Paris
In the evening, after sunset, year-round