Château de Voltaire

The Château de Voltaire is located in Ferney-Voltaire (Ain) in France, close to the border with Switzerland and the city of Geneva. It was Voltaire's home between 1761 and 1778. It was listed as a historical monument in 1958 and acquired by the French State in 1999.

There are traces of an older manor house dating from the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century the Duke of Savoy established a seigneury here. The domain was acquired by several Genevan families over time, including the Chevallier family in 1594 and the Budé family in 1674.

In 1755 Voltaire bought a property in Geneva he called Les Délices. However he soon felt that his position in the Republic of Geneva was not secure, particularly after the publication of the article "Geneva" in the Encyclopédie, a project in which Voltaire was a collaborator. He therefore sought a new place to live that would allow him a safe distance from the authorities in Paris while avoiding the inconveniences of living in Geneva. Ferney was a good compromise - Voltaire could remain close to his Geneva doctors and printers. He bought the estate from Guillaume de Budé in 1758 in the name of his niece for tax reasons.

Working with Geneva architect Jean-Michel Billon, he razed the existing structure and built the core of the current building before settling there in 1761. Five years later, in 1766, wanting more space, he had the architect fr:Léonard Racle add the two wings, completing the current footprint of the building and removing the last vestiges of the older structure.

On the ground floor were the living rooms. To the south: the antechamber, the living room, Voltaire's bedroom and an impressive library with nearly 7,000 books. To the north, past the main salon, was a small room for paintings and the apartments of Mme Denis (Voltaire's niece and companion). The basement, at garden level, included the kitchens and storerooms. The first floor was for guest rooms and the second floor had servants' rooms. The third floor was an attic.

Following Voltaire's death, Mme Denis sold the estate to the Marquis de Villette. He transformed the place into a memorial to the philosopher, installing a cenotaph in the living room. The furniture was all sold off, and the library was bought in its entirety by Catherine the Great and transferred to Saint Petersburg where it can now be seen in the Hermitage Museum.

Text adapted from “Château de Voltaire” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Château de Voltaire ranks #3,781 of 7,044 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #300 of the 456 mapped in France. Founded 1762, it is older than 15% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 468 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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