Palais Ideal, Hauterives, France
A Fantasy Castle

by Fida Wild

Facteur Cheval built a fantasy castle - his version of a Palais Idéal. A stone stuck in the road kindled a fire of passion in the letter carrier.

Joseph-Ferdinand Cheval (1836 - 1924) left school at the early age of 13 to become an apprentice in a bakery. He soon changed his mind and applied for the position of a letter carrier - a facteur.

Facteur Cheval at Work
Photo: Y.Korzhkov

The farms, spread out over several kilometres, where not always reachable in one workday. Frequently he had to sleep in barns or under the stars and continue his mail-tour the next day. His mind must have worked overtime on those walks. He wrote: "What else is there to do when one is constantly walking in the same setting, apart from dreaming? To fill my thoughts, I built in my dreams a magical palace…"

Walking day-dreamingly along his route, he hit his foot on a stone. Astonished by its shape and form, he took the stone home. That stone, crossing his path in 1879, set the fire within ablaze. He started to give shape to his dream that took him on a journey much bigger than ever imagined.

Le Palais Ideal - A Postman's Dream

César, Varcingérorix, Archimède
flanked by otter and cheetah
Photo:Y.Korzhkov

He started to collect stones during his walks to deliver letters and brought them home in his pockets. When his wife became tired of mending them, he changed the mode of transportation and took a basked with him. Soon, the stones became bigger and he piled them up on the side of the road to collect them later in his spare time with his wheelbarrow.

His weird world of fantasy art and bizarre creations started quite innocently with a pond in his backyard, adorned with little creatures built in cement.

Collecting stones became an addiction. When when he had finished his pond, he started with a cave, or rather a tomb where he wanted to be buried "like a Pharaoh," together with his wife. It took 10 years to finish.

Palais Ideal Front
Photo:Y.Korzhkov

His passion didn't stop there. With his imagination running wild he continued his arduous work; put a Hindu temple next to a grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Egyptian mummies smack dab in the middle of everything.

A gallery with spiral staircases fit for a queen and a 30-foot tower give the Palais Ideal the whimsical look of a fantasy castle - an odd monument that, according to a inscription in one of the walls by himself, took "more than 10,000 days or 93,000 hours over the period of 33 years" to finish.

Balcony fit for a Queen
Photo:Y.Korzhkov

Poorly educated with no knowledge of architecture let alone engineering, he gave birth to a surreal place of fantasy art. It became a tourist attraction in France in the otherwise sleepy town of Hauterives.

Even though he was very proud of his creations, at one point he wrote: "You start wondering, if you have not been carried away into a fantastic dream with boundaries beyond the scope of imagination."

A Whimsical, Eccentric, and Crazy Place

Siesta in front of the castle
Photo:Y.Korzhkov

The structure is adorned with mythical art. Whimsical creatures climb up the walls and fill little nooks; arms of concrete trees embrace the building; detailed ornaments created with thousands of little stones and miniature temples tucked into crevices. "Figures of classical antiquity" share their place with countless birds and an array of other animals.

Neighbors started to talk; first they were curious but later, when his passion for unconventional art didn't to stop, they thought he had gone mad. That was, until the first tourists visited, including artists from Picasso to Niki de Saint Phalle, as well as intellectuals like André Breton. Finally they realized that there was probably more to this madman than they had thought.

Inside the Palais
Photo:Gael Olympio

All the way up to his age of retirement as a letter carrier, he kept his soulful work going, sometimes working passionately all night. Sundays where out of question, since that would have been heresy and one didn't "steal God's Day". Although it sounds romantic, building in the shine of a small oil lamp can't have been all that illuminating and fun.

André Lacroix, archivist of the French Government, wanted to list Cheval's fantasy castle as an official monument and asked for a description and name of the place. Cheval did write the story but declined to name the place, instead asked Lacroix for the honor, and so the name "Le Palais Idéal" was born.

The French Government didn't allow a burial outside the official cemetery. Cheval, not one to be stopped by such a request, started to build another tomb, the "Tomb of Silence and Eternal Rest" inside the cemetery and finished it within eight years.

Today, "Le Palais Idéal", is a Historic World Heritage Monument.

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Good To Know

Whimsical decoration
Photo:Y.Korzhkov

Adresse
Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval
8 rue du Palais Idéal
F - 26390 Hauterives
Facteur Cheval's Homepage

Open
Year-round, except 25. December and 1. January
9:30 - 12:30 and 1:30 - 7:00 pm July and August;
closing earlier for the rest of the year.

Son et Lumière
Check out Facteur Cheval's Homepage
for special "sun and light" installments during the summertime.

• Read reviews at TripAdvisor

Where to find

• Paris - Hauterives by car A6 542 km, approx. 5 hours 15 minutes
• Lyon - Hauterives by car A7 85 km, approx. 1 hour 15 minutes
• Valence - Hauterives by car 51 km, approx. 50 minutes

Accommodations in Hauterives
There is only one Hotel that offers rooms and a nice Restaurant. 500 meter up the road of the palace is a nicely treed campground for motor homes and your own tent as well as chalets and tents for rent as well as a swimming pool. But towns along A6 and A7 offer plenty of accommodation.

• Hotel Le Relais
  Place de l'Eglise,
  F-Hauerives 26390

  Rooms starting at Euro 55.00 without Breakfast; 61.00 with Breakfast. Free parking.

• Camping du Château in Hauterives
  Open 1. April - 30. September
  

  Small Chalets, starting at Euro 110 .00 for 2 nights
  Tents for up to 5 people, starting at Euro 160.00 per week
  Camping prices and more information you find at their website Camping du Château in Hauterives.

Other Hotels

• Hotels in Valence Click here for best hotel rates
• Hotels in Grenoble Click here for best hotel rates

Note: The information provided here was correct when published. Rates and details can change without notice.

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