Back then, the walls were half a metre high and no one had the faintest idea when \u2013 or, more to the point, whether \u2013 Chateau de Gu\u00e9delon would ever be finished. No one, after all, had thought to build an early 13th-century castle by hand for about 750 years.<\/p>\n
Maryline Martin , the project manager, shows a tray of pigments made on site. Photograph: Jon Henley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Just over a quarter of a century later, it still is not quite finished. But in the summer of 2025 it is, recognisably and rather splendidly, an early 13th-century French castle, complete with ramparts, turrets, vaulted great hall, chambers, chapel, kitchens and, a little way off in the woods, a working flour mill.<\/p>\n
It is also a living archaeological, architectural, cultural, historical, human and even scientific laboratory, praised and prized by everyone from medievalists and heritage restoration experts to professionals in the sustainable construction industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really sure what I thought would come of it. Back then, it sometimes felt like just \u2026 having fun with friends,\u201d said Maryline Martin, Gu\u00e9delon\u2019s project manager since the start. \u201cIt\u2019s been the most amazing adventure. And it\u2019s worked in a way I never dreamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning to Gu\u00e9delon 25-plus years on provides something of a shock. What was once a bare, muddy expanse of rock-strewn ground dotted with the occasional artisan in a home-spun hemp tunic or a leather apron is now an actual medieval castle. There are also car parks, restaurants, shops, a smart eco-friendly office \u2013 and 310,000 visitors a year.<\/p>\n
If regional, EU and corporate money funded the hard early years, today the \u20ac7.5m raised annually from ticket, food and souvenir sales \u2013 including baskets, scarves and bookmarks, all made in Gu\u00e9delon \u2013 pay the investment, running costs and 160 salaries of one of Burgundy\u2019s biggest attractions.<\/p>\n
Two stone-cutters follow 13th-century methods as they work on the construction of Chateau Gu\u00e9delon. Photograph: Arnaud Finistre\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
What it is most absolutely not, though, is a medieval theme park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is play, but serious play,\u201d said Martin, unchanged bar her shock of grey hair. Along with Michel Guyot, who had already spent decades restoring a ruined local chateau, she was one of the founding figures of Gu\u00e9delon, inspired by the madcap idea of building one entirely from scratch. Guyot has since retired from the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about building to understand, inventing the future by rediscovering the past,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually thoroughly modern, in keeping with an era that values ecology and nature. We\u2019re like a bird building its nest: we take only what we need, from nearby. It\u2019s almost political.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quarriers working at the construction site. Photograph: Arnaud Finistre\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Gu\u00e9delon has quarriers, stone cutters, masons, joiners, blacksmiths, tilers, painters, carpenters, ropemakers, wheelwrights, carters and basketmakers \u2013 60-odd artisans in all \u2013 building cob and rubblework walls, firing tiles, blending dyes and pigments, braiding rope and forging and beating nails, hinges and decorative ironwork.<\/p>\n
The sole concessions to modernity are safety boots for everyone, glasses for those cutting stone, and ropes and carabiner clips for people working on the castle\u2019s medieval-style timber scaffolding (which itself must be health and safety approved).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds trite, but it\u2019s \u2018back to the future\u2019,\u201d said Emmanuel de Tissot, the newly appointed managing director. \u201cWe\u2019re on a collective quest, for fidelity, for accuracy. For truth, I suppose. Gu\u00e9delon engages body, heart and mind. Visitors, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florian Renucci, master builder at Chateau Gu\u00e9delon. Photograph: Cl\u00e9ment Gu\u00e9rard<\/p>\n
The typical visit here lasts five hours. A rapt crowd listens as Florian Renucci, master builder, explains that each beam of the great hall\u2019s roof vaults is a single branch hewn from a single tree, respecting the strong \u201cheart\u201d of the wood. Gu\u00e9delon joiners were instrumental in the rebuilding<\/a> of the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral.<\/p>\n
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Aerial view of the almost complete castle. Photograph: Denis Gliksman<\/p>\n