Guédelon Castle (french: Château de Guédelon ) is a castle currently under construction near Treigny,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The castle is the focus of an

experimental archaeology Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks ...

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. Jacques Moulin, 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 Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

. Construction started in 1997 under Michel Guyot, owner of

Château de Saint-Fargeau Château de Saint-Fargeau is a 17th-century, Renaissance château located in the commune of Saint-Fargeau in the department of Yonne, in the Burgundy region of France. In the 10th century, before the construction of the current castle, the châte ...

, a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Saint-Fargeau Saint-Fargeau is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, in the historical region of Puisaye. Main sights * Saint-Ferréol church, built in Gothic style in the 14th and 15th centuries. Notable b ...

13 kilometres away. The site was chosen according to the availability of construction materials: an abandoned

stone quarry In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

, in a large forest, with a nearby

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from tha ...

. The site is in a rural woodland area and the nearest town is

Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye () is a commune in the north-central French department of Yonne. It is located in an area historically known as Puisaye. In the early 1970s the Château de la Folie, north of the village (halfway to Mézilles) was home t ...

, about to the northeast.

History

In 1979, French entrepreneur Michel Guyot purchased the ruins of the

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 The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

, local and the central French governments, and commercial entities. A former

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The castle location is in a woodland, two hours south of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, 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. The techniques redeveloped for Guédelon Castle are being used in the reconstruction of

Notre-Dame cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to th ...

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 ''Secrets of the Castle'', or ''Secrets of the Castle with Ruth, Peter and Tom'' is a British factual television series that first broadcast on BBC Two from 18 November to 17 December 2014. The series stars archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pin ...

'', in which the project was described as "the world's biggest archaeological experiment".

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: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:Le château du Guédelon (Treigny, France) le 19 août 2019.jpg, 2019 File:Guedelon 107.jpg, 2020

References

Sources

* * *

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