Namesake lives on in Ferney-Voltaire

[Guest post by Leslie
Akchurin in Ferney-Voltaire, France] From age 65 to 85, Voltaire kept one
home in Geneva and another just a few miles away in Ferney, France, so he could
slip across the border in response to whichever government was angry with him.
This great Enlightenment thinker and proponent of civil liberties (and
community infrastructure) is still a towering presence here in
“Ferney-Voltaire,” where he is credited with transforming a swampy, sickly
hamlet into a prosperous and hip destination for free thinkers and society
figures. A big Voltaire fete is held here every year, and there are several
statues and busts of him around town—like this one I sketched last summer at
the Le Patriarche cafe (top of post). 

Meanwhile, his chateau languished in disrepair for decades – that is, until
this year! When I climbed up the hill last week, I was so pleased to find
that what had been cocooned in scaffolding a year ago has emerged in pink and
white splendor. Not only the house but the extensive grounds have been
renovated.  

Voltaire’s chateau

I came back to visit for the next two days. The big, airy building feels
stately but also idiosyncratic and festive, perhaps like the witty,
unconventional man himself. 

Another view of the chateau

Inside, some of the rooms have been furnished with period-appropriate pieces,
and a few original pieces have been restored and returned. The woman in the
painting here is out of place, however. She’s Empress Maria Theresa, the mother
of Marie Antoinette, and is known to have disliked Voltaire. But the painting
is a valued gift to the museum, and her dress nearly matches the brocade on
Voltaire’s restored bed, so she’s currently stuck here looking at it. 

Voltaire’s bedroom

From the lovely rear gardens, you can see Mont Blanc if the day is clear, as
well as many planes taking off from the Geneva airport, just a stone’s throw
away. Apparently, Voltaire cherished his views of both the Alps on one
side and Jura mountains on the other. 

View from the gardens

Although Voltaire believed in God, he was a famously free thinker and a thorn
in the side of religious hierarchies. He originally transferred this town
chapel to his property with the idea of converting it into a kind of study, but
he ultimately bowed to church pressure and rededicated it to God instead. 
With his typically sly wit, he decreed that his name be chiseled larger than
God’s on the plaque. 

Voltaire’s chapel

Leslie Akchurin is a Connecticut Yankee who lives on the Texas Panhandle. She
drew these sketches with an Apple Pencil in the Tayasui Sketches Pro app on an
iPad Pro. Her work is consulting at a university writing center, and she
sketches in her free time, when possible, accompanying her husband on trips he
undertakes as a high energy physics researcher. She has served as an administrator
of the USk Lubbock chapter and writes articles for Drawing Attention. Leslie has contributed several guest posts to the blog. More of her work can be seen on Flickr.