Guédelon Castle

In 1979, French entrepreneur Michel Guyot purchased the ruins of the Château de Saint-Fargeau and began restoring it with profits raised on-site.[2] 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.[3] Over five months in 1997, Guyot raised €400,000 from the European Union, local and the central French governments, and commercial entities.[2]

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.[4][5] The castle location is in a woodland, two hours south of Paris, near Treigny. The ceremonial first stone was laid on 20 June 1997,[6] and permission for the construction was received from the commune of Treigny on 25 July 1997.[7]

After ground-breaking mid-1997 through early 1998, the site was cleared and the first workshops erected.[7][8] 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.[7] By June 2010, the great tower stood at 15 metres (49 ft).[9]

By 2014, the castle was attracting about 300,000 visitors annually,[10] and had annual revenue of about three million euros.[11] In 2022, the castle was attracting about 275,000 visitors. [12]

The techniques redeveloped for Guédelon Castle are being used in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral after its catastrophic 2019 fire.[5][13]

Guédelon Castle appeared in the 2004 documentary Europe in the Middle Ages.[14] 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".[15][16]

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• 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

• Bitterli-Waldvogel, Thomas (2006). "Guédelon: Bau einer Burg im 21. Jahrhundert". Burgen und Schlösser. Zeitschrift für Burgenforschung und Denkmalpflege (Heft 4 ed.). Braubach, DE: Europäisches Burgeninstitut.

• Hutz, Richard (2007). "There are places I remember: Situating the Medieval past in postmedieval memory". Nordic Journal of Christianity and the Arts. Transfiguration. Museum Tusculanum Press. 6 (2): 89–108. ISBN 978-87-635-0701-1.

• "Guédelon: Renaissance d'un château médiéval". Dossier Futura-Sciences (in French).

• Building the Great Cathedrals (video documentary). NOVA. PBS. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.

• Guedelon. 180x360.eu (360°-panoramatour). August 2011.

• interviewee Maryline Martin. "Chateau de Guédelon" (interview article). — Interview with Guédelon's co-founder and CEO, Maryline Martin

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guédelon.

• Official website