A complete project. Voltaire rebuilt the castle entirely from 1758. He landscaped the grounds and didn't shrink from getting his hands dirty 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).
A busy social and literary life. Voltaire continued his fight against intolerance from Ferney, writing some 6,000 letters as well as his Philosophical Dictionary, his Treaty on Tolerance, and several tragedies. He staged dramatic works at the estate and received "enlightened" guests from all over Europe. The French state acquired the property in 1999.