Musée des Plans-Reliefs

Located within the Hôtel des Invalides, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs is a museum dedicated to three-dimensional models of fortified cities known as «plans-reliefs». These models give us a representation of these fortified cities such as they were when they got immortalized.

The first model was ordered in 1668, for military purposes, by Louvois, minister of war of Louis XIV. It was the plan-relief of the city of Dunkerque. The production then continued until 1870 when it came to an end, due to the disappearance of fortifications. The collection fell into disuse until 1927 when it became a French historical monument.

Out of the 260 plans-reliefs produced over these two centuries of wars ans sieges, a hundred is kept in the parisian museum. Authentic pieces of history, these three-dimensional models take us into the past.