The French Postman Who Built a Palace from Pebbles – Ferdinand Cheval
The Palais Ideal du Facteur Cheval (the Ideal Palace of Postman Cheval) in Hauterives, France is an amazing testimony to determination and creativity. This is the story of the French postman who built himself a palace from pebbles.
Are you or your children destined to be great? What defines greatness in today’s society? This is hotly debated and opinions are diverse. I think greatness is displayed by following your passion, contributing to society and leaving ‘your mark’ no matter how small. The story of Ferdinand Cheval shows how this French postman achieved greatness in his lifetime in a very unsuspecting way.
The story of Ferdinand Cheval resonates with me as my children are always putting pebbles, shells and unusual pieces of wood in their pockets or stuffing them in my handbag when we go for a walk. The ‘best’ are kept and displayed in flower pots or on our deck with pride.
Ferdinand Chevel
Ferdinand Cheval (19 April 1836 – 19 August 1924) was a French postman who spent thirty-three years of his life building Le Palais Ideal (the “Ideal Palace”) in the French village of Hauterives from pebbles. That’s right, whole buildings built from only pebbles. The Palace is regarded as an extraordinary example of naive art architecture and the story of its construction is quite amazing.
Ferdinand Cheval was born in Charmes-sur-l’Herbasse, in the Drôme departement of France, and lived in Chateauneuf-de-Galaure. He left school at the age of 13 to become a baker’s apprentice, but eventually became a postman and began his building in April 1879.
He said about himself “I was walking very fast when my foot caught on something that sent me stumbling a few meters away, I wanted to know the cause. In a dream I had built a palace, a castle or caves, I cannot express it well… I told no one about it for fear of being ridiculed and I felt ridiculous myself. Then fifteen years later, when I had almost forgotten my dream, when I wasn’t thinking of it at all, my foot reminded me of it. My foot tripped on a stone that almost made me fall. I wanted to know what it was… It was a stone of such a strange shape that I put it in my pocket to admire it at my ease.
The next day, I went back to the same place. I found more stones, even more beautiful, I gathered them together on the spot and was overcome with delight… It’s a sandstone shaped by water and hardened by the power of time. It becomes as hard as pebbles. It represents a sculpture so strange that it is impossible for man to imitate, it represents any kind of animal, any kind of caricature. I said to myself: since Nature is willing to do the sculpture, I will do the masonry and the architecture.”
The Building of the Palais Ideal
For the next thirty-three years, Cheval picked up stones during his daily mail round and carried them home to build the Palais Ideal. He spent the first twenty years building the outer walls. At first, he carried the stones in his pockets, then switched to a basket. Eventually, he used a wheelbarrow. He often worked at night, by the light of an oil lamp. Can you believe this dedication!
The Palais is a mix of different styles with inspirations from Christianity to Hinduism. Cheval bound the stones together with lime, mortar and cement. Personally, I don’t think the Palais is beautiful but it is a memorial to a dedicated and imaginative hard working soul – and this I love.
Ferdinand Cheval’s Mausoleum
Cheval wanted to be buried in his palace but because that is illegal in France, he spent eight more years building a mausoleum for himself in the Hauterives cemetery. He died on 19 August 1924, about a year after he had finished building it, and is buried there.
“After completing my dream Palace at the age of seventy-seven and after thirty-three years of hard work I still found enough energy to create my tomb in the Parish cemetery. Again I worked hard for eight years. I was blessed with the health needed to complete this tomb called ‘The Tomb of Silence and Endless Rest’ – at the age of 86.” (except from Cheval’s notebook No. 3).
Tributes and Praise for Ferdinand Cheval
Ferdinand Cheval received acclamation and recognition in his lifetime from Andre Breton and Pablo Picasso; Anas Nin commemorated his work in an essay in 1932; German artist Max Ernst created a collage titled The Postman Cheval; and Ado Kyrou produced Le Palais Ideal, a short film about Cheval’s palace. What an amazing achievement for a postman who collected pebbles!
He has created a lasting monument to determination, creativity and skill. Letting nothing stop him, he even created a final resting place for himself in his latter life. Are you following your passion? What will you leave for your family, friends and the wider community to remember you by? Simple can be grand as Ferdinand proves.
In 1969, Andrea Malraux, the Minister of Culture, declared The Palais a cultural landmark and had it officially protected. In 1986 Cheval was put on a French postage stamp and if you want to see this palace then it’s open for visitors every day except Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and between 15 to 31 January each year.
Visit the official site of Facteur Cheval for a full history, tour information with opening hours and costs and a great photo gallery.
Be Inspired by the Postman Who Collected Pebbles
Are you encouraging your children to be passionate about what they enjoy and to share it with others? Are you following your dream? Even the mundane can be magnificent as Ferdinand Cheval has shown. Be inspired by the ‘Postman Who Collected Pebbles’…
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