Ideal Palace, Hauterives, France

The Ideal Palace (Le Palais Ideal) was built in 1879-1912 By French postman Ferdinand Cheval(1836-1924). He spent thirty-three years of his life building this extraordinary example of fine-art architecture. The Ideal Palace is a mix of different styles with inspirations from the Bible to Hindu mythology. Cheval bound the stones together with lime mortar and cement. Cheval also proceeded to spend eight more years building a mausoleum for himself in the Hauterives cemetery. He died in 1924, around a year after he had finished building the mausoleum.