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Title : Namesake lives on in Ferney-Voltaire
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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.

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