The Church of Val-de-grace, whose name coincides with the name of the famous Parisian military hospital in the Latin quarter, and is in fact on the premises of this institution – the tourists get there through the Military medical Museum of the hospital. But one of the most beautiful in Paris Baroque churches are perfectly visible and with a tiny square Laveran from wrought iron with gilt monogram on which shines the letter "a".

The letter recalls that the hospital is housed at the former Benedictine monastery, the land for which he bought with his own money, Anne of Austria – the one for which d'artagnan raced in England for the stolen pendant. Kidnapping is a historical fact (although d'artagnan at the time was only five years old), it is also true that the relations of the Queen with her husband Louis XIII was worse than ever, children they didn't have long. Still become pregnant after twenty-three years of fruitless marriage, Anna the day after the child's birth, he vowed to build in his beloved monastery Church and dedicate it to the virgin Mary. The first stone of the temple laid in 1645 her seven year old son, the future Louis XIV, the Sun King.

Initially, the construction was led by the prominent architect Francois Mansart, then he was replaced by Jean Lemercier, and after the death of the architect Pierre de MUE and Gabriel Le Doux. Together they erected a magnificent Baroque building with a dome, very similar to the dome of St. Peter's in Rome. This dome is the third largest in Paris (after the Invalides and the Pantheon).

The interior of the Church was designed by the best artists and sculptors of the era. Impressive multi fresco with a domed vault, which Anne of Austria and Louis represent our lady of the layout of the Church. Painted a mural favorite painter of Louis XIV, Pierre mignard. The magnificent altar of the Newborn Jesus and the virgin Mary, created by Gabriel Le Duc.

The completed Church was in 1667, a year after the death of Anne of Austria from breast cancer. During the revolution the Church organ was destroyed, desecrated the Church itself, the monastery was turned into a military hospital. It probably saved him (and the Church) from total destruction. Now, this former monastery is one of the best hospitals in the world, in which, in particular, are treated by the first persons of the French Republic. Perhaps this explains some of the inaccessibility of the Church.