underground — because the tunnel carrying the trains must pass underneath the River Seine. The Prefecture of Police was built under Napoleon III as a barracks of the Republican Guard. It was gradually expanded into a police headquarters with authority over the twenty districts of Paris and the departments surrounding Paris. During the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the building was the scene of fierce fighting. When the French police went on strike, the occupying German forces attacked the building with tanks. One hundred and sixty-seven policemen were killed. Alongside the Quai de la Corse, at the Pont au Change, is the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris, which contains the courts of business and commerce. The judges of this court are not lawyers, but business people elected for 2–4 year terms. The building was constructed between 1860 and 1865 in the extremely ornate Louis XIII style - like the Palais Garnier opera house, built at about the same time. Its dome was inspired by the New Cathedral, Brescia in Italy, begun in 1604 but not finished until 1825. Napoleon III had admired it in 1859 during his military campaign which liberated Italy from Austrian rule. The Hôtel-Dieu The Hôtel-Dieu, located between the Parvis of Notre-Dame on the south and the Quai de la Corse on the north, is the oldest hospital in Paris. It is reputed to be the oldest still-functioning hospital in the world. Tradition says it was founded in 651 by Saint Landry, Bishop of Paris. It was originally located on the other side of the Parvis, along the river, with a second building on the left Bank of the Seine. The old hospital was famous for its overcrowding, with several patients in each bed. It was rebuilt several times. During the French Revolution it was re-named the "House of Humanity", in keeping with the secular principles of the revolution. The present hospital was begun by Napoleon III in 1863 and completed in 1877. The design, in an Italian Renaissance style, was by the architect Arthur-Stanislas Diet. It has several buildings, connected by porticos. Until 1908, care in the hospital was provided by nuns; now it is part of the network of Paris public hospitals. Historical buildings close to the same site included the Hospice of Found Children, built in 1670, where new-born babies could be abandoned without explanation at any hour of the day or night.