Palais Idéal combines so many artistic elements that it defies classification.

One can perhaps imagine what went on over the dinner table that first evening as he returned home and informed his wife of his intention. ‘Have you lost your mind, husband?’ - or something along those lines would probably be accurate.

Not at all. He saw absolutely no obstacle in the fact that he was neither an architect, nor a sculptor, nor even a simple bricklayer. Regardless, he would start work on this project right away. This dream would soon become his passion, then later an obsession, and finally, after the equivalent of 10,000 days of toil, a reality.

For year after year, decade after decade, even after walking his 30 kilometer mail route, he found the energy to push his odd-shaped wheelbarrow through the fields - collecting stones, mixing lime and cement and moulding his Palais. For ideas, he relied on natural themes as well as on pictures he found in books which depicted many of the great structures throughout the world. Their influence can be quickly seen inasmuch as the Palais Idéal upon completion brought together East and West - resembling a strange mixture of Khmer Temple, Moslem Mosque, Hindu Sanctuary and Feudal Castle.

“It is not time which is slipping away, but life.”

Oh, if only more people could harness the grit and determintion in all of us, to achieve what others say is impossible.

‘This creation proves the strength of human will.’

Today, the modern visitor to Ferdinand Cheval’s triumph of will power and imagination is quickly awed, bemused and inspired - all at once. Walking through the intricate human-scale structure (it is only some 20 meters across and 10 meters high), one also sees the many proverbs and pronouncements which came into the postman’s mind as he worked the long hours of each day. Inscribed patiently into the walls, many of these are charmingly naive but others are profound and some even quite moving. Examples: “Should there exist a more determined man than me, then let him set to work”; “It is not time which is slipping away, but life.”; “In creating this rock, I wanted to prove the strength of human will.”

One last footnote: Unlike many might have guessed, Ferdinand did live to realize his dream and to fully complete his palace even though he was well over 40 when he started and well into his 70s by the time he had finished. In fact, as soon as he did so, he began building an ornate vault for himself in the local cemetary. And, he even lived another 10 years after finishing that.