Thirty-three years to build an 'Ideal Palace'

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Today we went to see an extraordinary creation: Ferdinand Cheval’s Ideal Palace. Cheval was a postman who, in April 1879 and at the age of 43, stumbled upon a stone so unusual he was moved to create a fairytale palace. Over the next 33 years, he worked on 10,000 days, spending 93,000 hours on his palace. Included was a tomb with a double slab where he wished to be buried. This request was refused so he then spent another 8 years building an equally unusual tomb in the cemetery of Hauterives. He died at the age of 88 and is buried in his tomb. As the village postman he walked some 40 kms per day on foot. His spare time was spent collecting stones to create his palace. His inspiration came from the countryside, illustrated magazines and later by postcards that began to appear in 1890. He had no training whatsoever but his palace is now recognised as a world reference of ‘outsider art’ and has been acclaimed by many. In 1969 it was declared a historical monument of naïve art. The first visitors arrived around 1905 and Cheval was able to show them around his monument. In the 1930s, shortly after his death, his unique work came to be recognised os a work of art in its own right. This is probably long enough for one post but the website is if you want to know more. I’ve included a photo of the model so to give you an idea of what it is like. I couldn’t get far enough back to capture the real thing in total. You can walk up to the top terraces and peek into the various ‘rooms’. His trusty wooden wheel-barrow also has its own shelter. He has also put a lot of sayings and explanations here and there on the stones. Edited later: I didn't find it really impressive or attractive at all although many other artists have praised it. I've never really been attracted to such 'off-beat' creations.