iMusée de l'Armée (Les Invalides) · Invalides
A season marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, with displays on key figures and Franco-American military ties, plus concerts, talks and film screenings.
The route starts with the marquis de La Fayette's own sword and ends with the uniform of the French soldiers sent to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012 in a brigade named after him, Task Force Lafayette. In between, the Valenciennes corridor holds about thirty objects from the collections, including sabres of honour and decorations that belonged to Marshals Joffre and Foch.
That's half the season. For the other half you walk under the arcades of the cour d'honneur, where panels on the pillars tell the stories of 16 French and American figures, from Tocqueville and General Pershing to Joséphine Baker and Jean Gabin, who left Hollywood to fight with the Free French. Napoleon lies under the Dôme next door, and one of these pillars belongs to his great-nephew Charles Bonaparte, who founded what became the FBI.
The pillar panels are free. The corridor is included in the €17 museum ticket, open 10:00 to 18:00 until 30 November, and free talks in the Auditorium Austerlitz run into late November.
La Fayette's sword
The marquis's own sword is where the corridor's story of the alliance begins, with his 1777 landing in South Carolina to join the American insurgents.
The Task Force Lafayette uniform
Look for the uniform of the French brigade that served in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012 under La Fayette's name, the route's modern end point.
Joffre's and Foch's sabres of honour
Ceremonial sabres and decorations that belonged to the two marshals sit among the corridor's thirty or so objects.
Anne Morgan's pillar
Her panel follows the philanthropist who moved to Blérancourt in 1917 with nurses and drivers; she is also the only woman with her own plaque in the cour d'honneur.
You want a full exhibition: it's 16 outdoor panels and about thirty objects in one corridor.
A kids' screening of National Treasure (Benjamin Gates) is free with booking on 21 October at 15:00, and a family concert for ages 6 and up runs on 14 November at 15:00. A La Fayette character from the Cryptors collecting game is hidden in the museum's rooms.