Ideal Palace, Palais Idéal du Facteur, Cheval, France (1879 – 1909)
The legend behind Ideal Palace says in 1879, French postman Ferdinand Cheval tripped over a rock during his regular mail route. He picked it up, and instead of tossing it aside, he looked at it closely. The odd shape of the rock was so captivating, he was inspired to create a whimsical palace full of its own twists and turns like the rock. With no architectural training, he learned through self-study how to turn the building of his imagination into something real. He endured the teasing of neighbors and challenging manual labor collecting and stones to use in the building. Once he completed the building, he found the critics quiet, especially as tourists began coming to his Palace for a look. Cheval wrote, “You start wondering if you have not been carried away into a fantastic dream with boundaries beyond the scope of imagination.”
