Ferdinand Cheval

Vocation

Traits

Mundane

French postman who spent 33 years of his life building his ‘dream castle.’ He started the construction in April 1879. He said he tripped over a stone that had a special form and ignited his fantasy , the day after he went back to the same spot and began picking up more stones. For the following 33 years he collected stones on his daily post tour from Hauterives to Tersanne (approximate 32 kilometers). He began to fit the stones together with cement, clay and gauze. He mostly worked during the night with the light of an oil lamp. People of the area thought of him as the ‘the village fool.’ The castle is a mix of different styles with elements of the bible, Hinduism, gods and goddesses, animals and poems. In architectural terms it falls under the category of ‘naive architecture.’ Ferdinand wanted to be buried with his wife in the castle, but the French authorities forbade that and so he started to construct his own mausoleum on the local cemetery. It took him another 8 years to complete the mausoleum and he died one year after it was finished at the age of 88 on 19 August 1924 in Hauterives, France. André Breton and Picasso expressed their admiration for the man. In 1969 Ferdinand Chevals’ castle was declared a protected monument by the French ministry of culture. The castle is open for visitors. Link to Wikipedia biography