Pierre Du Bellocq's Poem on the Dôme des Invalides

Abstract

Abstract Pierre du Bellocq's L'Eglise des Invalides. Poëme, published in 1702, is a dramatic narrative, replete with otherworldly powers, of the genesis and creation of the Dôme des Invalides in Paris, and the recounting of a miracle that allowed the completion of the baldachin over the high altar. The miracle was meant as an allegory alluding to Louis XIV's command of the previous year for a final modification of the baldachin columns. The poem (which exists in one known copy) is unique among architectural writings of the Louis XIV period.