Le Palais Idéal de Facteur Cheval
What does a postman in Hauterives do on his days off? If his name is Ferdinand Cheval, he builds Le Palais Idéal, an awesome accomplishment for an unskilled sculptor featuring gods and goddesses, pilgrims and peasants, carved out of stone.
One day in 1879, the 43-year-old facteur stumbled across a stone that he considered to be out of place among the mundane stones that littered the path. While the majority of us would either kick the stone or at the most pick it up and put it on a mantelpiece, Cheval went searching for more. A lot more. He discovered enough stones to spend 34 years building his dream, Le Palais Idéal.
There may not appear to be any grand design to the building, but you must remember that the guy was a postman, not an architect. Inspired by his own toil, Cheval's palace is graffitied with inscriptions of his poetry, usually based around building a dream through hard work. This truly unique site has been visited by Picasso and surrealist Breton and is testament to the potential of dreams and their realisation.
| Venue Information: | Le Palais Ideal de Facteur Cheval |
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| Full Name: | |
| Cost: | €5.40; concessions €3.90 |
| Opening Hours: | Jan & Dec: 9.30am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-4.30pm Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov: 9.30am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-5.30pm Apr, May, Jun, Sep: 9am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-6.30pm Jul, Aug: 9am-12.30pm & 1.30pm-7pm |
| Address: | 26390 |
| Directions: | By Car: Take the A7 Motorway to D51 (east), between Valence and Lyon/Vienne. You could also take the A7 to the D519 exit (east) and then D538(south). |
| Contact Details: | Le Palais Ideal de Facteur Cheval |
| Phone: | +33 (0) 4 75 68 81 19 |
| Other Information: | Le Palais Ideal de Facteur Cheval |
| Website: | Facteur Cheval Website |
| Name: | Hauterives Tourist Office |
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| Location: | Hauterives |
| Address: | Grande Rue, 26390 Hauterives |
| Email: | ot.hauterives@wanadoo.fr |
| Phone: | +33 (0) 4 75 68 95 40 |
| Name: | Comité Régional du Tourisme Rhône-Alpes |
| Location: | Rhône-Alpes |
| Address: | 104, route de Paris, 69260 Charbonnieres-Les-Bains, France |
| Email: | info@rhonealpes-tourisme.com |
| Phone: | +33 (0) 4 72 59 21 59 |
| Name: | Maison de la France |
| Location: | France |
| Address: | 20 Avenue de l'Opéra, 75001 Paris, France |
| Phone: | +33 (0) 1 42 96 70 00 |
| Fax: | +33 (0) 1 42 96 70 71 |
