A French village postman named Chevalle walks across the countryside every day. One day, he tripped over a stone on a rough mountain road.
He got up to dust himself and was ready to go again, when he noticed that the stone that had tripped him looked very strange. He picked up the stone, looked left and right, and became a little fond of it.
So he put the stone in his mail bag. The people in the village were surprised to see that besides the letter, there was a heavy stone in his parcel. They advised him kindly, "Throw it away. It is quite a burden for you to walk so much every day."
But he took out the stone and boasted, saying, "Who of you has ever seen such a beautiful stone?"People all laughed and said: "Such stones are everywhere on the mountain, enough for you to pick up a lifetime."
He went home and slept tired in his bed, and suddenly the idea occurred to him how charming it would be to build a castle out of such beautiful stones. So every day he looked for stones on his way, and every day he always brought back one. Soon he had collected a large number of stones of strange shapes, but not enough to build a castle.
So he began to deliver letters in a wheelbarrow, loading it with any stone he found he liked.
From then on, he never lived a happy day. By day he was a postman and a stone conveying coolie, by night he was an architect, and he built his castle according to his own imagination.
Everyone was amazed at his behavior and thought that there was something wrong with his mind.
For more than twenty years, he searched for stones, transported stones, and piled stones. In his remote residence, a number of scattered castles appeared, and the locals knew that there was such a paranoid and silent postman, who was doing something like a child building sandcastles.
In 1905, a reporter for a French newspaper came across this group of low castles and was amazed by the scenery and the architectural pattern of the castles. He wrote an article about Schevalle, and when it was published, Schevalle quickly became a news story. Many people came to visit the castle, and even Picasso, the most prestigious of the time, made a special trip to visit Chevalle's architecture.
This castle has become the most famous scenic spot in France, and its name is called the ideal Palace of Postman Chevalle.
Many of Chevalle's nicks can still be seen in the castle stones, including one carved into the stone at the entrance: "I wonder how far a stone with a wish can go." It is said that this is the stone that tripped Chevalle.
Not allowed to be buried in the ideal palace in his back garden, Chevalle, 78, spent another eight years building a palace for himself on the grounds of a local cemetery. Twenty months after the completion of the palace, on August 19, 1924, Chevalle died peacefully......
It is a unique work of art in the history of modern world art. It was built by the postman Sherva over a period of 33 years (1879-1912) using natural materials he collected on his travels in the countryside. It contains an Islamic mosque, a Hindu temple, Adam and Eve, and Jesus Christ. The stone Castle of the French Postman Chevalle, also known as the Ideal Palace of the Postman Chevalle, is one of the most famous scenic spots in France and was approved as a cultural heritage site in 1969.
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