Musée des Plans-Reliefs

In the Hôtel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, is a museum dedicated to detailed military models of important towns and fortified cities across Europe. These models were created over the course of one hundred years during the 17th and 18th centuries so that French emperors could make strategic decisions on how to proceed with an attack on foreign land, or how to defend their own cities against foreign attack. These scale models are known as plans-relief and they were an important tool for military strategists of the Renaissance era, especially in France and Italy. Today, they stand as irreplaceable documentation of the represented sites and serve as valuable educational tools. Mont-Saint-Michel in Musée des Plans-Reliefs. Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr The collection at Musée des Plans-Reliefs was begun in 1668 by Louis XIV, at the suggestion of his minister of war, Marquis de Louvois. Some of the earlier models were crafted during the construction or reconstruction of the fortifications they represent, serving both as working models and portraits. Others were created after the completion of works, likely intended for convenient analysis and instruction. The king developed a strong enthusiasm for these models, resulting in the construction of fifty during his reign. Out of these, thirty-seven have survived, including the model of Ath, which dates from 1668 and was the first completed. Louis XIV kept the models locked in the Great Gallery of the Louvre, and few visitors were allowed to see them because fortifications were state secret and the king couldn’t have allowed examination by a potential enemy. King Louis XV continued what his predecessor had started, and during his reign many new models were added. In 1774, the collection was nearly destroyed when the royal architects confiscated the Great Gallery of the Louvre for the display of paintings, and had nearly thrown out the plans-relief at the nearest trash heap.