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Château de Voltaire à Ferney

Discover the château where Voltaire spent the last twenty years of his life at Ferney, on the edge of the Haut-Jura Natural Regional Park lying near the Swiss border.

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Opening / Closing

Times may vary

Open
31 march to 4 november, every day except Monday, 10 am to 1 pm and 2 to 6 pm
July and August, every day, 10 am to 6 pm

Strongly advised reservation for guided tour of the chateau : (33) 04 50 40 53 21

Prices

Adult rate : 5,50 €
Reduced rate : 4 €
Adult group rate : 4,50 € (minimum 20 persons)
School group rate : 20 € (maximum 35 students, 2 accompananying adults included, adult group rate for additional accompananying adult)

Free admission :
Minors under 18 (family visit)
18-25 years old (for people under 26 years old who are citizens of one the 27 countries of EU or are non-European permanent residents of France)
Disabled visitors and their escorts
Unemployed persons

Going there

A40 (Mâcon-Geneva), exit Bellegarde Pays de Gex,
N206 toward Pays de Gex,
D984, then D35 toward Ferney-Voltaire.
On highway A1 (Lausanne-Genève) : exit Ferney

See the map

Localisation

Château de Voltaire
Allée du Château
F- 01210 Ferney-Voltaire

T (33) 04 50 40 53 21
F (33) 04 50 28 04 84

GPS details

Latitude : 46.2581
Longitude : 6.1044

Weather

Wednesday 11°C

Wed 34°C / 57°C

Thu 50°C / 66°C

Fri 46°C / 66°C

Sat 52°C / 75°C

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Understanding Voltaire’s château in Ferney

• An entire project. Voltaire had the château wholly rebuilt from 1758 on. He had the grounds laid out, and didn’t shrink from working in the garden himself. Alternately town planner, entrepreneur, and patron of the arts, Voltaire transformed the town of Ferney along the lines laid out in Candide (1759) and summed up in his famous maxim ‘il faut cultiver notre jardin’ (we must tend to our garden).

• An intense social and literary life. Voltaire continued to combat intolerance and wrote some 6000 letters from Ferney as well as the Dictionnaire Philosophique, the Traité sur la Tolérance, and several tragedies. He staged dramatic works in the château and received guests from all over Enlightenment Europe. The French State bought the château in 1999.