Old Photo

The west facade takes you on a journey. Using illustrations from his time, Ferdinand Cheval reproduced various buildings in the alcoves: a Swiss chalet, a Hindu temple, the White House, El-Harrach in Algiers, and a château in the Middle Ages. A mosque opens out onto the inner part of the palace: the Gallery. Ferdinand Cheval and his wife Philomène are posing in front of the Swiss chalet, which is ornamented by four fir trees. These trees were removed by Postman Cheval himself, who decided to move them to his other monumental work, Le Tombeau du Silence et du Repos Sans Fin (The Tomb of Silence and Endless Rest) in the cemetery of Hauterives.