Morlaix — Seznec Affair Frame-Up

Your quest begins at the Place de l'École Militaire, a 55-hectare esplanade created in 1751 by Louis XV for his Military School. It was here that Napoleon Bonaparte attended school between 1779 and 1785, before becoming the officer who marked French history. The classical architectural lines by Jacques-Ange Gabriel, who designed the School between 1751 and 1773, bear witness to the grandeur of the Ancien Régime and set the scene for your investigation into the heritage of Île-de-France. Here you collect your first directives, already feeling the weight of Paris's history on your shoulders.

Continuing your journey towards the Dôme des Invalides, you admire this architectural feat by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, completed in 1706 under the reign of Louis XIV. With its 107-meter height, this dome is one of the tallest in France and has housed Napoleon's tomb since 1840, transferred from Saint Helena. The Église du Dôme, classified as a Historic Monument, is adorned with frescoes by Charles de La Fosse dating from 1705. This site, at the heart of the Musée de l'Armée Invalides, is a testament to French military power and a key location for deciphering the imperial allusions in the document you are seeking.

The Hôtel des Invalides itself, founded in 1670 by Louis XIV to house invalid soldiers and completed in 1708 by Libéral Bruant and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, is your next stop. Its Cour d'honneur, 198 meters by 164 meters, once accommodated 4,000 people. Since 1905, it has housed the Musée de l'Armée, one of Europe's most significant collections of weapons and armor. It is within this labyrinth of 18th-century classical architecture that you decode military symbols, essential for understanding your mission on this thematic circuit of Paris.

Your route then leads you to the Assemblée Nationale, at the Palais-Bourbon, a building constructed between 1722 and 1728 for the Duchess of Bourbon, and acquired by the State in 1807 – the very year of your mission. The seat of the Chamber of Deputies since 1830, its hemicycle, restored in 2000-2002, can seat 925 people. Its neoclassical facade on the Seine, 125 meters wide, mirrors the Palais du Conseil constitutionnel. As an imperial archivist, you search for clues in the archives of the nascent republican institutions, as the political upheavals of the era are crucial to your investigation in Paris.

Your exploration of the 7th arrondissement of Paris concludes at the Pont Alexandre III, built between 1896 and 1900 and inaugurated on October 14, 1900, by President Loubet. Named in homage to the Franco-Russian alliance, its foundation stone was laid by Tsar Nicholas II in 1896. Its unique arch, spanning 107 meters, one of the largest steel arch spans of its time, and its Art Nouveau decoration with four 17-meter pylons and sculptures by Frémiet and Coutan, offer a contrast to the classical architecture you've traversed. This bridge, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Banks of the Seine, symbolizes Paris's resilience, "Fluctuat nec mergitur". Here you assemble the final pieces of the puzzle, your interactive visit to the heritage of Île-de-France having revealed the secrets of a crucial imperial document for the history of Paris.