Guédelon Castle

Guédelon Castle ( ) is a castle currently under construction near Treigny, France. The castle is the focus of an experimental archaeology project aimed at recreating a 13th-century castle and its environment using period techniques, dress, and materials.

In order to fully investigate the technology required in the past, the project is using only period construction techniques, tools, and costumes. Materials, including wood and stone, are all obtained locally. , chief architect for the project, designed the castle according to the architectural model developed during the 12th and 13th centuries by Philip II of France.

Construction started in 1997 under , owner of Château de Saint-Fargeau, a castle in Saint-Fargeau away. The site was chosen according to the availability of construction materials: an abandoned stone quarry, in a large forest, with a nearby pond. The site is in a rural woodland area and the nearest town is Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, about to the northeast.

History

In 1979, French entrepreneur Michel Guyot purchased the ruins of the Château de Saint-Fargeau and began restoring it with profits raised on-site.

In late 1995, a study by Guyot's staff revealed the medieval foundations beneath the current, brick ruins, complete with a hypothesized plan of the original castle. After some consideration, Guyot rebuilt the existing castle, but began assembling funds and experts – and opening negotiations with the French government – to build a new castle.
Over five months in 1997, Guyot raised €400,000 from the European Union, local and the central French governments, and commercial entities.

A former sandstone quarry was chosen as the site of Guédelon Castle because of its relative elevation and abundance of local natural resources, which would have been expensive to transport in the Middle Ages.

The castle location is in a woodland, two hours south of Paris, near Treigny. The ceremonial first stone was laid on 20 June 1997,
and permission for the construction was received from the commune of Treigny on 25 July 1997.

After ground-breaking mid-1997 through early 1998, the site was cleared and the first workshops erected.
By 1998 the castle perimeter had been built up to a metre (3 ¼ feet) in height, following which Guédelon was opened to the public.
By June 2010, the great tower stood at .

By 2014, the castle was attracting about 300,000 visitors annually,
and had annual revenue of about three million euros.
In 2022, the castle was attracting about 275,000 visitors.

The techniques redeveloped for Guédelon Castle were used in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris after its catastrophic 2019 fire.

Media

Guédelon Castle appeared in the 2004 documentary ''Europe in the Middle Ages''.
In November 2014 the castle was featured in the series, '' Secrets of the Castle'', in which the project was described as "the world's biggest archaeological experiment".
In September 2022, Guédelon Castle was featured in a video by Tom Scott, which explored the use of medieval treadmill cranes in its construction.

Construction images

File:Chateau de Guedelon 2000 01.JPG, 2000
File:Guédelon11062004.jpg, 2004
File:Castle Guedelon 2005.jpg, 2005
File:Château de Guedelon 2006 01.jpg, 2006
File:Château guédelon août 2007.jpg, 2007
File:Château de Guédelon (juin 2008).jpg, 2008
File:Château de Guédelon (juillet 2009).jpg, 2009
File:Echauffaudage corps Guédelon.JPG, 2010
File:Château de Guédelon (juin 2011).jpg, 2011
File:Château de Guédelon (août 2012).jpg, 2012
File:Guédelon Château fort en construction.jpg, 2013
File:Guédelon - mai 2014 - 11.JPG, 2014
File:Guédelon - août 2015 47.JPG, 2015
File:Guédelon 29-10-2016 13-20-06.JPG, 2016
File:Aspect du chantier le 02 juin 2017.jpg, 2017
File:Détails du Château de Guedelon en 2018 01.jpg, 2018
File:Le château du Guédelon (Treigny, France) le 19 août 2019.jpg, 2019
File:Guedelon 107.jpg, 2020
File:Guédelon 2021-08-25 01.jpg, 2021
File:Château de Guédelon. en 2023 (2).jpg, 2023

Gallery

File:Château Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 90.jpg, Stonemason tools of Guédelon
File:Four Banal Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 1.jpg, A communal oven
File:Moulin Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 1.jpg, Guédelon mill, Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.
File:Moutons Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 1.jpg, Sheep in Guédelon, Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.
File:Oies Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 1.jpg, Geese in Guédelon, Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.
File:Potager Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 1.jpg, Guédelon vegetable garden, Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.
File:Site Guédelon - Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe (FR89) - 2023-09-21 - 10.jpg, Guédelon site, Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.

See also

* Campus Galli – a comparable project to construct a faithful medieval town with a monastery, based on the Plan of Saint Gall; in Meßkirch, Germany
* Castell Coch – a 19th-century Gothic revival castle
* Castell Henllys – an archeological site accompanied by reconstruction roundhouses
* Ozark Medieval Fortress – another, similar (but halted) castle project in Arkansas, USA
* Castle Drogo – an Edwardian imitation castle in England
* Basilica of Saint-Denis, reassembly of the north tower and its spire entirely financed by the site visits
* French frigate Hermione (2014) – a project to construct a faithful 18th-century frigate
* List of castles in France

References

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guedelon Castle
Castles in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Buildings and structures under construction in France
Stone buildings
Experimental archaeology
Tourist attractions in Yonne