Musée de l'Armée

This guide to the Musée de l'Armée in Paris opens on the battlefield at Pavia in 1525, where King François I of France was captured and a soldier named Juan Aldana picked the royal sword up out of the mud. It follows that sword's decades with the Aldana family, its sale to King Philip II of Spain in 1585, and its long stay in the Spanish royal collections, before turning to the museum itself inside the Hôtel des Invalides, built by Louis XIV for his wounded veterans. Look for the sword on display just ahead, its handle carved with François's personal emblem, a salamander.