Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924), a French postman, began work on his dream palace in the late 19th century. As the story is told, Cheval tripped on a rock in 1879 along his mail route, picked it up and was so fascinated by its peculiar shape that he was inspired to build the imaginative palace originally called “The Temple of Nature”. Real self-taught, he devotes the following 33 years of his life to build this dream palace in his garden alone.
