IN France the manufacture of miniature of a city or a building is important not only to become one of the interesting tourist attraction. For example in Moses © e des Plans-Reliefs in the Hotel des Invalides, a variety of miniature collection here was originally created for military purposes. All of these military miniature collection declared as historical monument in 1927, and the museum was founded in 1943. The models you can see in this museum gives special attention to the fortress city and topographic features such as hills, harbors, and so forth.
Approximately 260-relief plan that was made between 1668 and 1870 represent approximately 150 sites. Approximately 100 models are now preserved by the museum and about 15 collections stored in Moses © e des Beaux-Arts de Lille.
Currently, Moses © e des Plans-Reliefs relief plan showing 28 forts along the English Channel, Atlantic and Mediterranean coast, and the Pyrenees. Musee des Plans-Reliefs or military model of the museum was originally founded in 1668 when Francois-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois and war minister to Louis XIV, began to collect three-dimensional model of the walled city for military purposes, known as a plans-reliefs.
In 1700, Louis XIV and then placing his collection at the Louvre. Initially the model was built on the ground by military engineers, but in 1743 two workshops dedicated to their construction in Bethune and Lille.
A large number of models built during and after the War of Austrian Succession (1741-1748) to represent the newly occupied site. This collection is updated in 1754, but then could not be used. The last model was built under the old regime is the Saint-Omer (1758) and the castle of Saint-Philippe aux Baleares (1759).
Year 1774, this collection is almost ruined when the company dedicates this place Louvre galleries for paintings, but in 1777 the military miniature models are transferred to the Hotel des Invalides.
Under Napoleon, a set of models built for new conquests, including the Luxembourg (1802), La Spezia (1811), Brest (1811), and Cherbourg (1811-1813). Production is then continued until about 1870.
If you want to visit the Musee des Plans-Reliefs, you just come to the Hotel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. The museum is open every day except the first Monday of each month.