On either side of the Dôme des Invalides, the 81 individual rooms of the pensioners’ centre provide temporary or permanent accommodation for wounded veterans and victims of war, both men and women. The painter Geneviève Asse, who was unreservedly committed to the Resistance, was a resident of the Invalides until her death at the age of 98 in 2021. The view of Paris from the roofs of the Saint-Louis des Invalides cathedral, more than 80 metres high, is breathtaking. In the gutters, you can sometimes find traces of gold that the wind has blown off the dome.