He's been working here 17 years, starting when he was 22. Glotin is part of the mason team finishing the castle walls. He says the treadmill crane can lift 1,000 pounds. Guillaume Glotin is one of the workers turning the hamster wheel. The only modern addition at Guédelon is a safety brake. Known as a treadmill crane, it can pivot and raise or lower materials, depending on which way the workers walk inside it. It's a kind of medieval crane with a central axle and ropes. To lift the tons of wood and stone needed to finish the castle's outer walls, two men walk inside a contraption that looks much like a giant hamster wheel. Guillaume Glotin, head of masonry, at the Guédelon Castle near Treigny, France. Everything is done by hand." By hand, and using old-fashioned tools, and motorless vehicles and mechanisms. "The charm of the skill is really to build by hand," he says. Schrauwen says most people who work at Guédelon have a diploma in one of the heritage skills or work experience. So the most important thing is to work in a team." It's very dangerous, you can damage your body. ![]() "For window, doors, chimneys, staircases, stone by stone." "Our job is to cut stones in perfect geometrical shapes," he says. Tendra Schrauwen, a 29-year-old from Belgium, says Guédelon is one of the few places in the world you can practice this craft using traditional methods and old tools. Half a dozen stone masons work near the quarry. ![]() Preston says in medieval days the speed at which you finished a castle all depended on one thing: money.Ī worker at the Guédelon Castle, where the castle is being built using techniques and tools from the Middle Ages. There are six turrets completed as well as a protective wall and inner living castle with a chapel. Workers stop their tasks several times a day to answer questions from visitors - as part of the job. The owners say the project is meant to discover and pass along skills and knowledge from a 13th century work site. That learning aspect of Guédelon is one reason its construction is taking so long. "I've always wanted to be a stone carver." NPR asks the kids if they'd be interested in doing such a job one day. The craftsmen stop their work to explain what they're doing to visitors as well as train young craftsmen in heritage skills. They watch Lacroix pound the glowing red rods. And during NPR's visit, a group of fourth-graders are at the site. Part of Guédelon's mission is pedagogy, according to Preston. Lacroix makes the nails and other tools needed for the construction of the castle. Sparks fly as he pulls a cord that operates a large bellows. That's where 20-year-old Matisse Lacroix is forging the tools needed to build the castle. ![]() The smell of fire and a clanking sound are coming from a nearby blacksmith's shop. ![]() The workers are all dressed in medieval clothing, except for sturdy contemporary footwear and sometimes helmets mandated for a modern construction site. The builders use the examples of other medieval castles in the area, as well as descriptions in old manuscripts and books. It's about "building to discover," she said. Martin said Guédelon is an example of experimental archaeology - which is a way to research how people did things in the past by trying to imitate them. An advisory committee made up of archaeologists, historians and castle experts is associated with the project. Martin said the project is all about highlighting nature, history, archaeology and heritage skills. A post shared by NPR finding and purchasing the original 27 acres of land in a forest near a centuries-old abandoned quarry and water (necessary ingredients for any medieval construction site), the co-founders got a construction permit and, in 1997, laid the first stones.
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