Guédelon Castle

Guédelon Castle (French: Château de Guédelon [ʃɑto d(ə) ɡedlɔ̃]) is a castle 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 medieval 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.

Construction started in 1997 under Michel Guyot, owner of Château de Saint-Fargeau, a castle in Saint-Fargeau 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) 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 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the northeast.

Text adapted from “Guédelon Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Guédelon Castle ranks #323 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #36 of the 469 mapped in France. Founded 1997 — one of 177 atlas entries founded in the 20th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 33,732 times in the last 60 days, more than 98% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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