Building a medieval castle from scratch

I always love seeing how Guédelon is getting along.

"Why do you build a medieval castle" "Because building a cathedral would have been more complicated" I absolutely love this (slightly paraphrased).

True appreciation of how hard it was to make these marvels of construction without modern technology.

Craftsmanship!!! That's why I admire older buildings in NYC and hate when they randomly knock them down to build an ugly building that looks like an ice cube tray. No character whatsoever! The building of this castle is fantastic with people using real talent!!!

There's a documentary series on this castle done in 2014 with Historian Ruth Goodman. I remember seeing it and was fascinated. Have been keeping tabs on the castle ever since. Would love to visit it some day. The show was called Secrets of the Castle. Highly recommended.

The BBC did a great Series about making a Castle. This one and they show a lot of the steps. Even how the workers lived. Thanks for showing it. It has been a few years since I last saw it. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Fantastic synergy between construction, scholarly research, historical and practical education of scholars, trade workers, and the general public, and tourism that funds the project! The greatest value in the project, by all measures of value, is in its ongoing work rather than in it being so complete as for work to end.

been following this for the better part of over 10 yrs now. My wife found it, and at that time they were saying it would take minimum of 25 yrs to build. Here we are 2+ yrs past that minimum, what a wonderful project.

Correct me if I'm wrong but everything has been built using techniques and materials of the time. Only 3 contemporary items can be found on the site,: ropes, goggles and working shoes, all this for insurance reasons. Everything else, from the iron for the tools, to the last roof tile was produced on the premises, with the materials found on the premises.

I'm jealous of these people. To have a passion like they must in the first place, and then getting to live their dream life like the stone mason said. I can't even imagine how peaceful that feels.

That's amazing using original pigments to do their wall designs. Like a French colonial Williamsburg.

I think it's also important to note that going back and exploring long abandoned/forgotten methods can help reveal things we may have missed when upgrading to the next best thing. We may had improved but what did we give up for that and can we utilize what was given up today now that technology has gone even further! I absolutely love seeing how the castle has progressed over the years.

My grandfather was a carpenter. I do lots of types of art and crafts. As a creative type, I can say that I appreciate and love doing things old school, far more than to use modern technology.

This will be very useful. This is a repository of conservation skills.

They had a similar project in Arkansas where they were building a castle using authentic techniques. We visited it once or twice. I think it shut down about 15 years ago.

every now and then a video about Guédelon is released, its a nice way to see the evolution. first one I saw they were finishing the main building, and not a single tower had a roof

L'un de mes endroits préférés. Je l'ai visité pour la première fois il y a 20 ans et plusieurs fois depuis. C'est toujours intéressant de voir comment progresse la construction.

That is so Epic. This is something I’d want to volunteer on the weekends!

The knowledge of the old ways, along with the benefit of modern research to prevent the use of harmful substances. The best of both worlds, brought together to keep history alive for the modern age. I love to hear that the skills developed and honed there are helping to restore Notre-Dame. Proof, if there ever was any, that the ways of the past were not only better in some ways, but still as relevant as ever. Imagine how hard it would've otherwise been to find people with the knowledge and hands-on skill for such an undertaking, were it not for the years that this wonderful place had been growing. Amazing. I hope to go there and see it myself, someday.

Truly wonderful...rediscovering ancient knowledge.