Ferney-Voltaire, town, Ain dept., E France, on the French-Swiss frontier near Geneva. The town grew after Voltaire bought the seigniory of Ferney in 1758 to escape harassment from both the Genevese and the French. Called the "patriarch of Ferney," Voltaire lived there until 1778, during which time he built the local church and founded pottery and watchmaking industries that produced some of the finest artisans of modern France. Voltaire's handsome residence still stands.

Ferney-Voltaire is a commune in the department of Ain in eastern France. It lies between the Jura mountains and the Swiss border. It forms part of the metropolitan areas of Geneva.

History

Ferney was first noted in 14th-century Burgundian registers as "Fernex." Four centuries later, however, Voltaire changed the "x" to a "y" due to the excessive number of towns in the region with names ending in "x," such as Maconnex, Saconnex, Gex, Versonnex, Ornex.

During Voltaire's reign over Ferney in the second part of the 18th century, the town saw rapid expansion. Today Ferney is a peaceful village with Saturday markets and a close community. Ferney is slowly growing with the building of new apartments and houses in the area. It is also home to the Lycée International. Voltaire still presides over Ferney with his life-like statue near La Grande Rue. It is a peaceful place to live in or visit.

Voltaire

From 1759 to 1778 Ferney was home to French writer and philosopher Voltaire. His influence on the town was profound. He built the local church and founded cottage industries that produced some of the finest potters and watchmakers of modern France. After the French Revolution, the town was renamed "Ferney-Voltaire" in his honor.

In 1759, after having lived in Geneva less than two years, Voltaire had purchased the estate of Ferney in France, near the Swiss border. A prime reason for his leaving Geneva was that theatre was forbidden in that Calvinist city, so he had decided to become the enlightened "patriarch" of the little village of Ferney, setting up potteries, a watchmaking industry and, of course, theaters, attracting rich people from Geneva to watch his plays.

During Voltaire's residence, the population of Ferney increased to more than 1,000. Voltaire lived there for the last 20 years of his life before making a triumphal return to Paris, where he died in 1778.

Sights

Ferney's main attraction is Voltaire's house (château), built 1758-66, now owned and administered by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (an arm of the French Ministry of Culture). It is open to visitors between May and September.

The château includes the main building, with a reconstruction of Voltaire's room (moved from its original location by later private owners), a garden with a fine view of the Alps, and a church dedicated, contrary to custom, directly to God. In the church's inscription, "Deo erexit VOLTAIRE" ("Erected to God by VOLTAIRE"), Voltaire's name is written in the largest characters.

A few dozen meters from the château is another impressive house, built in 1900 by Monsieur Lambert (the sculptor of the statue of Voltaire; his family owned the château before it was purchased by the French government). The house, now privately owned, had been used to store provisions and wine for the château, and to accommodate the household staff.

The village features 18th-century houses and artisans' workshops; a life-size statue of Voltaire; a smaller bust of him, surmounting a fountain; many restaurants, French and foreign; and proximity to the nearby cosmopolitan city of Geneva, Switzerland.

Every Saturday, a market is held in the main street of Ferney.

The old road at the centre of the village is very beautiful, and a remnant of the time when Voltaire resided at the château in Ferney-Voltaire.

The pedestal of the Voltaire statue, erected in 1890, dedicates that memorial to the town's "benefactor," noting that he built over a hundred houses for the inhabitants, as well as a school and church, gave the town interest-free loans, and fed its inhabitants in time of need.

See also

• List of places named after people
• Georges Vianès, mayor of Ferney-Voltaire from 1995 to 2001

References