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Detail of supports of dome drum, ornamentation by Philippe de Buyster; The Church of the Val-de-Grâce is the church of a former royal abbey in what is now the Val-de-Grâce Hospital. The dome of the church is a principal landmark of the skyline of Paris. The church was initially designed by François Mansart, succeeded by Jacques Lemercier, who designed the dome. In 1645 Mansart was appointed by the queen, Anne of Austria, to add a church to the convent of the Val-de-Grâce, which she frequently visited on retreat. For this project Mansart devised a highly imaginative scheme based on the Escorial in Spain, where Anne had spent her youth. His design for the church was original in many respects, with bell-towers flanking the nave and a projecting single-storey entrance portico, more reminiscent of his château frontispieces than of a conventional church front. Mansart left the project after only one year. The abbey was turned into a military hospital after the French Revolution, but the church was preserved. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 6/12/2014)