In May 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, formerly Emperor of the French, died of stomach cancer on the remote island of St. Helena, where he had been exiled six years previously. While he expressed a wish in his will to be buried on the banks of the River Seine in Paris, this request was initially denied. Napoleon was finally granted his wish in 1840 when his remains were repatriated to Paris, though it would take more than two decades for the magnificent Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte to be completed.Napoleons First TombNapoleons original tomb on St. Helena. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOn May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died of stomach cancer at the age of 51 on the remote island of Saint Helena, where he had been exiled by the British after his defeat at Waterloo in 1815. In his last will and testament, dated April 15, Napoleon expressed his wish that my remains may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.Contrary to popular belief, it was not the British authorities but rather the French government under the restored King Louis XVIII that denied Napoleon this wish. Accordingly, he was buried on the island of St. Helena in the picturesque Sane Valley, which has come to be known as the Valley of the Tomb. While the British government had never recognized Napoleon as emperor, he was buried with full military honors as a general. The 3,000 men of the British garrison lined the route of the cortge that brought Napoleons body to its first resting place.Even on St. Helena, there were disputes about the tomb. General Tristan de Montholon, one of Napoleons officers who accompanied him in exile, requested for the inscription on the grave to say Napoleon, reflecting his style as emperor. Napoleons governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, insisted on the full name Napoleon Bonaparte. With neither side willing to back down, the gravestone remained blank. Napoleons remains would lie in this unmarked tomb for the next 19 years.The Political ContextKing Louis Philippe I of the French, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1841, Chteau de Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin. Source: Chteau de VersaillesWhile Napoleons mortal remains lay in St. Helena, France experienced further political upheaval when Prince Louis-Philippe of Orlans overthrew his cousin King Charles XI of France in the July Revolution of 1830, establishing a regime known as the July Monarchy. The new king represented the interests of the liberal bourgeoisie, was more favorable to the memory of the Napoleonic period, and sought to present himself as Napoleons political heir. Such initiatives included the inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in 1836 and the creation of a new French history museum in the Palace of Versailles with grand paintings of Napoleons battles and his marshals.Louis-Philippes efforts to claim Napoleons political legacy faced opposition from members of the Bonaparte family. Ever since Napoleons defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the Bonapartes had their estates and titles confiscated and were banned from setting foot on French soil, and Louis-Philippe maintained the policy. This did not prevent Napoleons nephew, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, from attempting to foment an uprising in Strasbourg in 1836. However, the revolt petered out very quickly, and he was forced into exile again.By 1840, Louis-Philippe had been on the throne for a decade, and his regime was becoming unpopular among the liberals who had helped him gain power. The historian Adolphe Thiers, who served as Louis-Philippes prime minister, believed the government could restore its popularity by reburying Napoleons remains in Paris. Louis-Philippe was not convinced, fearing that such an occasion would draw attention to the contrast between Napoleons glory and his beleaguered government. Nevertheless, he eventually gave his backing to the project.Les InvalidesThe Church of the Invalides, photograph by Jimmy Chen, 2012. Source: Jimmy ChenIn early 1840, Thiers appointed a committee of twelve (the Commission des douze) to decide on the location and design of Napoleons final resting place. Several locations were discussed and rejected. The Church of the Madeleine and the Vendome Column were too central and likely to attract Bonapartist crowds. The Basilica of Saint-Denis was too closely associated with the kings of France.The site eventually chosen for Napoleons tomb was one of the most important military sites in the French capital. Located on the south bank of the Seine in the 7th arrondissement, the Htel des Invalides was founded by King Louis XIV as a retirement home for veterans of the French army, a purpose it continues to serve until the present day. Louis initially built a church to cater to the spiritual needs of the veterans but later ordered the construction of a domed royal chapel, which has become the most iconic structure in the complex.In 1800, Napoleon transferred the remains of Marshal Turenne, one of Louis XIVs greatest generals, from the Basilica of Saint-Denis to the Church of the Invalides. Eight years later, Napoleon followed suit by transferring the heart of Marshal Vauban, the great military engineer, to Les Invalides. Vaubans original grave near his estate at Bazoches had been destroyed during the French Revolution.The presence of famous soldiers such as Turenne and Vauban, coupled with the sites preexisting military significance, made Les Invalides an obvious location for Napoleons final resting place. It had the advantage of being on the banks of the Seine, in accordance with Napoleons wishes, but in a sparsely populated area where crowds of Bonapartists were less likely to gather.Le Retour des CendresNapoleons coffin being brought to Paris during the Retour des cendres by Flix Philippoteaux, 1867. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Chteau de MalmaisonThe process of the repatriation of Napoleons body, known in French as the retour des cendres, is usually translated as the return of the ashes, though Napoleon was not cremated, and the term cendres was used to refer to his mortal remains. It was easy enough to obtain permission from the British to exhume his body. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, had no objections and saw it as an opportunity to improve relations with France.In July 1840, King Louis-Philippes third son Franois, Prince de Joinville, set sail for St. Helena in the frigate Le Belle Poule. The exhumation of Napoleons body took place on October 15, exactly 25 years to the day of Napoleons arrival on the island. By the time the Belle Poule returned to France, Thiers government had fallen and been replaced by a government nominally headed by Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult, one of Napoleons most accomplished subordinates, though dominated by Franois Guizot, a conservative who had opposed the initiative.News of Napoleons repatriation to France angered the Bonaparte family, who remained banned from France and could not participate in the ceremonies honoring the emperor. This inspired Louis-Napoleon to launch a second attempt to overthrow the July Monarchy, leading to his incarceration in the Chteau de Ham. He would undertake a daring escape five years later.Napoleons funerary cortege passing under the Arc de Triomphe, unknown artist, c. 1840. RMN-GP (Chteau de Versailles) / Franck Raux. Source: Chteau de VersaillesNevertheless, with Napoleon back in France, the government decided to continue with the plans, and his remains were taken up the Seine to the outskirts of Paris by December 14. The following day, the elaborate cortege decorated with Napoleonic symbols was escorted into Paris by soldiers of the French Army via the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs-Elyses, and over the Seine to Les Invalides. An estimated 750,000 Frenchmen gathered to witness the proceedings, including a large number of Napoleonic veterans.By 3 pm on December 15, Napoleons remains had arrived at the Dome Church of Les Invalides, where the king received Napoleons body from his son in the name of France. General Gaspard Gourgaud placed the sword Napoleon had worn at Marengo and Austerlitz on Napoleons coffin in the Chapel of St Jerome, and a group of musicians from the Paris Opera performed Mozarts Requiem. Among those present at the ceremony was the 86-year-old Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, then Governor of Les Invalides, who had been in poor health for several months and did not expect to live to see the event. After the ceremony was over, he allegedly remarked, Now, lets go home and die, though he lived another two years.The Tomb of Napoleon BonaparteThe Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte from the Lower Gallery, Muse de lArme-RMN Grand Palais, Emilie Cambier. Source: Fondation Npoleon, ParisIn April 1840, the Commission des douze held a competition for the design of the tomb of Napoleon and chose the submission of Italian-French architect Louis Visconti. However, while it had taken almost two decades for Napoleons body to be brought from Saint Helena to Paris, it would take even longer for Visconti to realize his design, and he would not live to see its completion.Viscontis plans envisaged excavating an open crypt beneath the Dome of the Invalides, enabling the tomb to be seen from two levels. Visconti also planned to place Napoleons body (under seven nested coffins) in a sarcophagus of red porphyry like the emperors of Rome. However, he was not satisfied with the existing collections of porphyry and was eventually presented with a sample of rock from the village of Shoksha in Lake Onega in Russia, labeled as porphyry but now known as Shoksha quartzite. The rock was already being used for architectural elements in St. Isaacs Cathedral in St. Petersburg and would later be used in Lenins Mausoleum.Portrait of Louis Visconti, by Thophile Vauchelet, 1854. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Muse Carnavalet, ParisVisconti had been given a budget of two million francs for the work, which quickly proved inadequate. The collapse of Louis-Philippes regime in 1848 and the establishment of the Second Republic under Louis-Napoleon further complicated issues with government financing, which was eventually approved. Work on the sarcophagus began in 1850, and It was almost complete in December 1853 when Visconti died of a heart attack, further delaying the completion of the project. The main sculptor, James Pradier, had also died the previous year while working on the statues of the twelve caryatids around the tomb.By now, Louis-Napoleon had overthrown the Second Republic and made himself Emperor Napoleon III. He had considered a new scheme to bury his uncle at Saint-Denis but eventually gave his backing for the completion of the tomb at Les Invalides. Jules Frdric Bouchet was appointed to succeed Visconti. Pierre-Charles Simart completed the marble work, including the Carrara marble bas-reliefs depicting major episodes from Napoleons reign on the surrounding walls and a statue of Napoleon as a Roman emperor.The transfer of Napoleons body from St Jeromes chapel to the completed tomb took place on April 2, 1861. The ceremony of Napoleons final reburial was a modest affair, with only Napoleon III and his family in attendance, along with a small number of dignitaries. The Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte has become one of Paris main attractions, drawing over a million visitors a year.Companions in DeathGrave of Napoleon II, King of Rome, photograph by Jimmy Chen, 2012. Source: Jimmy ChenWithin a few years of the retour des cendres, Napoleon was joined by some of his closest comrades. In 1847, the remains of his close friend Graud Duroc, who served as Grand Marshal of the Palace before his death in battle in 1813, were transferred to the Invalides alongside those of General Henri Gatien Bertrand. Bertrand had succeeded Duroc as Grand Marshal of the Palace and accompanied Napoleon into exile in St. Helena. In 1840, he returned to St. Helena to participate in the ceremony of Napoleons exhumation and reburial and died in 1844. Duroc and Bertrands funerary monuments were designed by Visconti as part of the scheme for Napoleons tomb, enabling them to continue attending to the emperor in death.During the 1860s, Napoleon was joined at Les Invalides by two of his brothers. His youngest brother, Jrme Bonaparte, formerly King of Westphalia, had died in 1860. In 1862, his remains were placed in St. Jeromes chapel. He was joined two years later by Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Spain and Naples and the eldest of the Bonaparte brothers, whose coffin was placed in St. Augustines chapel.In 1940, after the fall of France in WWII, Adolf Hitler presented the remains of Napoleons legitimate son, Napoleon Charles Francis, as a gift to the French people. Born in 1811 and recognized by Bonapartists as Napoleon II, after Napoleons abdication, he spent his life in the Austrian court where he was known as Franz, Duke of Reichstadt, and died in July 1832. His remains were transferred from the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna to the Invalides on December 15, 1940, the 100th anniversary of his fathers reburial. In 1969, they were deposited in a vault under a marble slab in front of Simarts statue of Napoleon.