Labrouste's project for the tomb of Napoleon - A symbolic interpretation of Romantic architecture

Taking Cesar Daly's description of Labrouste's composition entry for Napole on's tomb beneath the dome of les Invalides in Paris as a guide, the author argues that it can be read as a play on two basic antagonistic principles, burial and glorification. Linking a series of sources - Labrouste's Italia n drawing, Albert Lenoir's research on the Etruscans, and Friedrich Creuzer 's discussion of primitive myths - the article demonstrates how Labrouste w as inspired by a primitive symbolic universe in which "the union of discord and harmony engenders order in the world" (Creuzer).