Joseph Ferdinand Cheval's Ideal Castle. The ideal castle of Ferdinand Cheval (Ferdinand Cheval Palace or Ideal Palace) Hauterives, France Postman's Palace

France, Lyon

Ferdinand Cheval was born into a family of farmers in 1836 and served as a postman in the village of Hauterives. For 33 years, at night, he built his Ideal Palace.

The architecture of the building is unique and does not belong to any style - it is completely a flight of fancy of a self-taught architect. Many surrealists were inspired by the creation of Cheval.

“What can you do if you walk the same road every day if you don’t dream?” Cheval said. The palace he built consists of the "Source of Life" fountain, the "Saint Amadeus" cave, a kind of Egyptian tombs, where Cheval wanted to be buried as a pharaoh.

A "tomb of silence and endless rest" was built next to the Egyptian tomb. To balance the facade of the building, Ferdinand built an Egyptian temple, and opposite it a sculpture of the "three giants". Above all the buildings rises the "Barbarian Tower". In addition, a Hindu temple, a Swiss chalet, a medieval castle, a mosque and an Algerian house were built on the territory of the palace. Cheval wanted to make his palace a universal place suitable for every person.

Working mode

• December-January 09:30-16:30
• February-March 09:30-17:30
• April-June 09:30-18:30
• July-August 09:30-19:00
• September 09:30-18:30
• October-November 09:30-17:30

How to get to the Ideal Palace

The ideal palace is located in the village of Hauterives between Lyon and Valence. The nearest train stations are Saint Vallier sur Rhone and Romans sur Isère. From Lyon it takes 45 minutes to Saint Vallier and 55 minutes to Romans sur Isère. From the stations there is a bus to Hauterives (about 40 minutes), you can also order a taxi. In Saint Vallier: Taxis Vallon +(33 4) 75 23 23 23 / in Romans: Taxis Drômois, +(33 4) 75 05 15 05.

Thinking about France, there are associations with the well-known sights of the country.

First of all, thoughts about Paris, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower visit. Did you know that there are quite a few amazing places in France that are worth seeing. One of these places is the Ideal Palace of Ferdinand Cheval (Ferdinand Cheval), the construction of which was started in April 1879 and completed 33 years later. Can you imagine that an ordinary postman without special education and skills was able to build an amazing palace that delights no less than the work of other respected and revered personalities.

Biography

Joseph-Ferdinand Cheval (1836 - 1924) never lived in wealth, was a simple man. He completed only a few classes. Not finishing school, at the age of 13 he decided to become a baker's apprentice. However, after some time, Cheval changed his mind and got a job at the local post office as a postman. The territory that he had to bypass while performing the postman's service was very large. For this reason, the postman even had to spend the night in sheds, or even in the open. A person who had to travel long distances often had to dream in order to at least somehow brighten up his path. It was in his dreams that Cheval built his castle, and only then turned his thoughts into reality.

Regardless of your age, regardless of the complexity of your desire, if you are brave, persistent and hardworking, you will have the confidence to succeed.

The history of the construction of the palace

Joseph-Ferdinand Cheval, being a postman on one of his working days, accidentally stumbled over a stone. He picked up a stone from the ground and was surprised by its bizarre shape. The stone inspired the postman so much that he decided to create an ideal palace from ordinary stones at all costs. From that day on, every time he went along his usual route in order to deliver letters, Cheval collected pebbles in his pocket. However, the dissatisfaction of his wife, expressed in the need to constantly darn pockets, led the postman to use bags to collect stones, and then even a cart. The actions of the postman caused bewilderment among the locals, but they did not yet know what kind of masterpiece would come out of the idea of ​​a simple postman.

The self-taught architect worked on the creation of a masterpiece day and night by the light of kerosene lamps. It took about 20 years to build the outer walls, after which it took another 13 years to create the interior and decoration. During construction, Cheval relied only on his own imagination and imagination. For his passion for construction, many considered him crazy. Despite the opinions of others, the postman went about his business. By creating a bizarre palace, he wanted to show what the perseverance and will of a person is capable of. The result is a real masterpiece - the ideal palace of Ferdinand Cheval.

After 33 years, the author finished his work. By this time, Cheval himself was already about 70 years old. The result of a long construction was a palace 26 meters long, 14 meters wide and about 10 meters high. Cheval wanted to be buried in the palace after his death, but the French government refused to fulfill his desire, motivating the refusal by the fact that such luxurious tombs were not suitable. why that official cemeteries are provided for burials. The refusal of the government prompted him to create a crypt in the local cemetery. After 8 years of hard work, he was able to build a tomb for himself and his wife out of stones.

The ideal palace of Ferdinand Cheval was created from stones, lime, cement and rebar. It is decorated with various sculptures of people and animals, towers and fountains. Cheval planted palm trees and cacti around the palace. Inner and outer aisles and droshky are lined with seashells. The walls have carved inscriptions of various content, for example, one of them sounds like "10,000 days, 9,300 hours, 33 years of hard work."

From different sides of the facade, the palace is decorated with a miniature Hindu temple, a medieval castle, Egyptian temples. The architectural structure combines many different styles such as Romanesque, Muslim or Oriental. The ideal palace of Ferdinand Cheval embodied the tolerance of many cultures, different philosophies, and the harmony of the whole world. Everyone who visited the amazing palace in the village of Hauterives was able to personally communicate with the stubborn and unflappable Cheval through numerous inscriptions engraved on the walls.

It's not time that passes, but we're leaving.

An article about Cheval published in Le Matin in 1905 made the postman a local celebrity, and Ferdinand Cheval's ideal palace became a popular tourist destination. In the article, he spoke about his many years of work that became the property of the nation.

In honor of Cheval, postage stamps with his portrait were issued. In addition, the film by Chris Marker "Le Facteur sonne toujours cheval", filmed in 1992, is dedicated to such a stubborn person. In 1969, the Minister of Culture André Malraux declared the ideal palace of Ferdinand Cheval a historical and cultural monument. Today, anyone can visit the amazing landmark of France.

For more information, visit www.facteurcheval.com

Edward Leedskalnin in the USA, in New Zealand, or Charles Jencks in Scotland, these are all examples of the fact that nothing is impossible for people going towards their goals. These lone creators made every effort to translate life ideas into reality. One of these people will be discussed in this article, about the creator Ferdinand Cheval and his brainchild called the Ideal Palace.

To see the Ideal Palace of Ferdinand Cheval, you need to go to the small village of Hauterives, in the French department of Drome. A small settlement of a little more than a hundred people became famous throughout the region thanks to the hard efforts of the local postman. The self-taught architect Cheval, at the age of 31, received a position as a local postman. Walking along his route every day, Ferdinand began to collect stones of an unusual shape that came across along the way. At the same time, he had the idea to create the Ideal Palace with his own hands.

Cheval built the Ideal Palace for 33 years. Every day he traveled more than 20 kilometers, collecting stones of an unusual natural shape, which he used as material for construction. Ferdinand began to build the building at the age of 43, in 1879. Day and night, in his free time, regardless of the weather, with the help of simple building tools, the postman made his dream come true.

It was difficult to build the Ideal Palace without proper education, fantasy alone is not enough. To do this, Ferdinand began to study the architecture of different countries and times. For practical work, he studied the publications of the Parisian magazine Le Magasin pittoresque. Thus, the architecture traces the styles of the Middle East, China, Hindu mythology and the work of the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi.

The ideal palace was built in 1912 alone, without anyone's help. Ferdinand's mottos and proverbs are carved on the walls of the building, one of which reads: “1879-1912, 10,000 days, 93,000 hours, 33 years of hard work. Whoever thinks he can do better, let him try.” Most of the time, Cheval built the outer wall, which he called the "Temple of Nature" - a symmetrical facade with columns in the form of Egyptian monuments. The Ideal Palace also contains a Hindu temple, animal sculptures and a large terrace 23 meters long.

The dimensions of the structure do not exceed the dimensions of an average house: length - 26 meters, width up to 14 meters, height up to 10 meters, 2 floors. The ideal palace is equipped with many stairs, towers and fountains. Here you can see a mosque, a temple of the Virgin Mary, a chalet, a chateau, sculptures of Egyptian gods, Catholic saints and figures of people. For Europe, the Ideal Palace is a unique architecture. With the help of art lovers, including Pablo Picasso, in September 1969 the building received the official status of a historical monument. And in 1986, a photograph of Ferdinand Cheval was placed on a French postage stamp.

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If Archimedes needed a fulcrum (or a banal lever) to turn the world upside down, then the French postman Ferdinand Cheval went further and asked for only a stone. To build yourself a real dream palace. An extremely extravagant idea came to the responsible postal clerk, as is usually the case, in a utterly worldly situation - he stumbled on a cobblestone on the pavement. Cursing and looking at the unusual shape and color of the stone, Ferdinand saw his future life path. The postman began to collect original boulders and pebbles in order to later build himself an ideal mansion. His “stone epic” lasted 33 years, and today every curious tourist can see, perhaps, the most extraordinary house in all of France.

It is difficult to say what style Cheval's building belongs to, in fact it is a crazy eclecticism that has earned recognition even from such a master as Pablo Picasso.

Construction history

Arriving in the town of Hauterives with his wife, Monsieur Cheval worked tirelessly at the post office. It is worth considering that this was not an easy job: Ferdinand did not even have a banal bicycle, and the parcels had to be carried over distances of up to 10 km. However, the postman did not lose heart, and armed with a cart, he traveled around the outskirts of Hauterive, delivering mail and collecting his collection of wonderful stones. This idyll lasted for almost 20 years, from 1879. Having collected enough boulders, Cheval began to build the castle.

It is difficult to say what style his building belongs to, in fact it is a crazy eclecticism that has earned recognition even from such a master as Pablo Picasso. Although later Cheval's Ideal Palace began to be attributed to the forerunner of art brut - a deliberately rough style in architecture. But to describe the building in words is simply impossible - you have to see it. Scenes from biblical and Hindu mythologies, sayings of Christ and Buddha, crypts, the temple of the Virgin Mary, a mosque, hundreds of turrets, sculptures and bas-reliefs ... where the fantasy of an ordinary postman lived is unknown, but he was clearly not far from the equally ordinary English mathematician Lewis Carroll, who invented the "wonderful" world of Alice in Wonderland.

In 1924, the most creative postman of France died, but the brainchild of his life is still intact. Moreover, in 1969 the French Ministry of Culture awarded the palace the status of a historical monument, and tours began to be held here.

Practical information

The nearest major city is Lyon. There is no railway station in Hauterives, so depending on the season, you will have to get there with transfers by bus. Or by car in about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Opening hours: December-January - 9:30-16:30, February-March and October-November - 9:30-17:30, April-June and September - 9:30-18:30, July-August - 9 :30-19:00.

Admission fee: 8 EUR, children - 5 EUR. Audio guide - 2 EUR. From April to September, free 20-minute tours of the castle are held, but only in French. Prices on the page are for March 2019.

Ferdinand Cheval was born in 1836 in the French department of Drôme (France). His education was enough to read and write, but that was all. He started working at the age of 13, at first he was an assistant in a bakery, and from 1867 Cheval became a local postman. The locals knew him very well - friendly and hardworking, he traveled many kilometers a day, delivering letters, postcards and telegrams to people.

The idea to build a palace came to him precisely at work, when he, overcoming his daily 25 kilometers, once stumbled over a stone lying on the road. Picking it up and examining it, Chevalier was surprised - the stone was very interesting. It was then that he began to pick up stones of an unusual shape. So, looking at these bizarre stones, he gradually built in his mind the idea of ​​​​building a beautiful palace, which has no equal in the whole world. Chevalier was a dreamer - without leaving his native country anywhere, he could daydream, looking at postcards and envelopes on which were addresses of distant countries and unfamiliar, beautiful places.

It is surprising that Chevalier, a romantic and uneducated person, turned out to be not an empty dreamer, but an active person. So, he soon began to study architecture on his own - he was interested in any styles and genres, he admired all styles, without giving preference to any one.

Soon preparations began for the construction of the palace - Chevalier used all the same bizarre stones that he collected on the way to and from work. At first he simply carried them in his pockets, then he began to carry them in a basket or bag, and only later acquired a wheelbarrow.

He has been stacking rocks in his garden for many years, and construction began when he retired. It took him more than one decade, but soon a real palace began to emerge on his site - a bizarre, ornate, unlike any palace in the world. All possible styles were mixed in his palace - oriental, Asian, European, and yet this structure was surprisingly harmonious and even ... ideal.

They called it the Ideal Palace (Le Palais idéal, English Ideal Palace), and later recognized the palace as the most impressive monument of the so-called "naive architecture".

The construction was completed in 1912, and by this time many locals who could not recognize the masterpiece considered the postman Chevalier to be a complete eccentric, if not crazy.

The dimensions of this amazing building are 26 m long, 14 m wide and about 10 m high. Right on the facade of his offspring, the postman Cheval wrote: "Now let a more stubborn one than me take up work."

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It is known that, having not received permission from the local authorities to be buried in his palace, Chevalier began to make a tomb for himself, and soon he turned the family crypt into another work of art, calling it the Tomb of Silence and Infinite Peace. He died in 1924, just a year after the tomb was ready.

Recognition to the postman Chevalier came after his death. Already in the 1930s, his palace was appreciated by Pablo Picasso and André Breton.

So the name of an unknown French postman gradually began to sound around the world. In 1969, the Ideal Palace was recognized as a national cultural monument.