Château de Guédelon

They are building a 13th-century castle. Not restoring one — building one from scratch, using only medieval tools, materials, and techniques, and they have been at it since 1997. The Château de Guédelon in France is a quarry, a construction site, and a living experiment in medieval engineering, where the quarrymen, masons, blacksmiths, and carpenters work with their hands while visitors watch the walls rise at a pace measured in centuries.

Guédelon is an experimental archaeology project in the Puisaye region of Burgundy, constructing a 13th-century fortified castle using exclusively period-appropriate tools, techniques, and locally sourced materials. The project, begun in 1997 under the direction of Michel Guyot and Maryline Martin, employs approximately 70 workers including stone masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, tile makers, basket weavers, and rope makers. No modern power tools, synthetic materials, or mechanical lifting equipment are used — cranes are treadwheel-operated and mortar is lime-based. The project has provided insights into medieval construction techniques that academic study alone could not, including the practical economics of castle-building and the interrelationship of trades on a medieval construction site. Over 300,000 visitors attend annually, with hands-on workshops available for children and adults.