Building a 13th-century castle from scratch with simple tools and without electricity

If you’re interested in building a real castle from the old days, you don’t need a time machine to travel back to those periods to learn. Guedelon Castle in Burgundy, France, is a unique project where volunteers and researchers are constructing an authentic 13th- century Castle. They use only simple tools and materials as if from the medieval period. Quarrymen, stonemasons, carpenter-joiners, woodcutters, blacksmiths, tilers, carters, and rope makers are working together to revive heritage craft skills and shed light on the world of medieval construction.

In 1979, French entrepreneur Michel Guyot purchased the ruins of the Château de Saint-Fargeau for about $1000 (a few thousand francs) and began restoring it with profits made. They decided to buy a piece of land nearby to build a castle from scratch. They chose a former sandstone quarry because there is such an abundance of local natural resources like stone, water, wood, sand (for mortar), clay (for roof tiles), and ochre (for pigment). Without electricity nor modern tools like mechanical cranes, the team relied on cart horses for all on-site transport of materials and giant wooden treadmill winches. The team used huge human hamster wheels to lift stones or beams.

After 25 years, a great tower at 15 meter high (49 feet) and a chapel with its cross-ribbed vault were complete. They also used water cisterns, bread ovens, stone hand mills, and an on-site water mill.

Today, it has created over 55 jobs and is a real tourist attraction with more than 300,000 visitors a year.

From 01:52: Lifting machinery
15:46: Castle courtyard
16:16: The finished castle
16:27: Great tower
23:46: Rope makers hut

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