Church of the Val-de-Grâce
Coordinates: 48°50′27″N 02°20′31″E / 48.84083°N 2.34194°E
The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is a Roman Catholic church in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, in what is now the Val-de-Grâce Hospital. The edifice was formerly a royal abbey, and its dome is a principal landmark of the skyline of Paris. The church was initially designed by François Mansart, succeeded by Jacques Lemercier, who designed the Saint-Sacrament chapel's spiral-coffered dome after Philibert de L'Orme's chapel at the Château d'Anet.
The church was founded by Anne of Austria, Queen Consort of Louis XIII, in 1621. Anne, a devout Roman Catholic and counter-reformationist, had visited a priory in the deep valley of the Bièvre river and had become a friend of the prioress, Marguerite de Veny d'Arbouse. Anne suggested that an abbey be established with a suitable church. Construction began in 1634 on land given by the crown, the former Hôtel du Petit-Bourbon. Construction proceeded slowly, particularly after Anne fell from favor with the King. The estranged Anne spent time at the abbey, watched by Cardinal Richelieu and participating in intrigues with others who were out of favor. Louis finally forbade Anne to visit the abbey, but soon after, Anne became pregnant with Louis' heir, the Dauphin Louis Dieudonné.
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