Guédelon Castle, Part II: Workshops and Village

Site map of castle complex

Surrounding the castle construction, artisans in workshops demonstrate the skills necessary to build the castle--carpenters, quarrymen, stonemasons, woodcutters, blacksmiths, rope makers, tile makers, in all, more than half a dozen trades-- and there is a small “village” which would have typically surrounded a castle-complex of the Middle Ages.

The Stonemasons’ work station

Stonemasons dress sandstone from the quarry (reddish-brown stone) or limestone (white stone) from a neighboring quarry. The sandstone is used to build the towers, walls and buildings inside the courtyard. Limestone is used to sculpt stones for the windows and vaults.

After quarrying, the stone will be shaped to the proper size according to its place on the wall. The wooden objects hanging up in the stonemasons’ lodge are templates or molds. They are full-scale models of the stones needed for the different features of the castle.

The Stonemasons’ tools are chisels, hammers and lump hammers. They use a wooden ruler and set square to check the precision of their work. 

At the mortar work station, the Mortar Makers  make the “glue” used to bind the stones.

The mortar oven

The mortar is made from lime, sand and water The ingredients in mortar are adjusted according to the type of mortar required.

The Carpenters make all the wooden elements in the castle: roof timbers, doors, the bridge, centrings, which support the vaults while they are being built, scaffolding and lifting machinery (treadmill and hand winches).

A Carpenter at work

Wooden joists

The Blacksmiths make, repair, sharpen and temper dozens of tools a day. Cutting stone blunts the masons’ tools so much that, unless they are sharpened by the blacksmiths every three days, all work at the castle will come to a standstill.

The blacksmith burns charcoal in the hearth to heat the metal. To raise the temperature, he pulls the large leather bellows. The forge is often kept dark because the blacksmiths judge the heat of the metal by eye, depending on its different colors.  An orangey-red to pale yellow corresponds to a temperature between 900 and 1200° Centigrade. For tempering, they look out for cherry-red, which is equivalent to 820° Centigrade. For soldering, they must make the metal white-hot, equivalent to 1250 to 1300° Centigrade.

Horses, ponies & donkeys are used to transport materials on the site. Horses transport stones from the quarry and timber from the forest.

A colt

In the Middle Ages, sheep were very valuable for their meat, skin, wool and dung for manure. Sheep’s wool is carded and then spun to make clothes

The animals at Guédelon, including the pigs, are just on display; they aren’t eaten or killed and are given the best of care.

The basket makers weave strong, short-handled willow baskets for the construction site. Baskets are needed to transport clay and material for mortar. Previously, mortar had been transported in heavy wooden buckets, but baskets are much lighter than wood and just as strong.

A village peacock and geese. Goose feathers were sharpened to make quill pens. Peacocks have been a favorite decorative motif through the ages. They may symbolize royalty, wealth, beauty, rebirth….or dangerous pride.

The village garden

In the village dye house, the dyer dyes fabric with plant-based dyes. Also in this workshop, mineral pigments such as ochre and hematite are extracted and used to carry out mural paintings inside the castle. The pigments are extracted from colored earth, minerals and clays found at Guédelon.

Stone carving workshop for kids
With a set of carving tools, children learn to carve stone by sculpting a design onto a limestone block.

Kids learning stone carving

Village pottery workshop

Pottery wheel

On weekends May through November, you can watch the ancient art of throwing pots on a medieval style, stick-propelled wheel.

Village pond

Tile Workshop for roof and paving tiles

For roofing, wood could be used, but for a fortification, a flammable material is dangerous. Tiles are a better solution. The roof and floor tiles are molded from clay extracted on site. The tile makers form the tiles in a wooden mold.

This kiln contains up to 4,000 roof or paving tiles. A firing lasts for about 12 hours, depending on the weather conditions.

Stacks of tiles in the workshop

Wagon maker

The Quarry horses work on average for a two-hour shift. They must have extremely calm temperaments to work among the public. 

Chestnut mares, Paloma and Arpège, are Comtois, a breed of draft horses. The horses are essential for transporting materials on site. 

I traveled from Paris to Guédelon by bus with Club Alliance Voyages at a cost of 58 euros. I was the only English native speaker on the bus; the commentary was in French, but the French guide made sure I had all necessary information in English.  I don’t know of any other way of getting to the castle other than by driving there. There is a lot more to see on the web site: www.guedelon.fr and choose “anglais” from the drop-down menu.

FYI 

Michel Guyot undertook the same project--building a medieval castle from the ground up--in Lead Hill, Arkansas. Having visited Guédelon Castle, two French citizens living in Arkansas offered to sell M. Guyot part of their land for the building of the castle. M. Guyot accepted, and construction began in June, 2009. In May, 2010, Ozark Medieval Fortress opened to the public. Visitors could observe the ongoing construction and talk to the workers. Additionally, starting in 2011 a collection of medieval siege weapons was to be on display. The site was open every day from 10AM to 6PM. In January, 2012, the project closed indefinitely, requiring a buyer or an investor. 

Why did it fail? The recession of 2008 didn’t help nor did the castle’s secluded location. It was hoped that the castle’s proximity to Branson, Missouri, (30 miles away) would draw some of the 8 million tourists who go to Branson, but that expectation never materialized. Nevertheless, there are still dreamers who hope for a buyer who will invest in their dream. 

Picpus Cemetery and the Reign of Terror

Behind 2 large portal doors on a narrow, nondescript street lies the only private cemetery in Paris. The sign at 35, rue de Picpus, says: Here, in two mass graves, are buried the bodies of more than 1300 people guillotined on the Place du Trône from June 13 to July 28, 1794. (now Place de la Nation, on the eastern side of Paris.) This cemetery was not easy to find--from the street, there is not even a glimpse of what lies beyond its portals. On the day I visited this cemetery, I was not alone, which was just as well. A history buff from Texas, who was there to see Lafayette’s burial place, visited the grounds with me.

The French Revolution was a revolt against both the monarchy and the clergy. The Reign of Terror was designed to get rid of anyone who harbored counter-revolutionary intentions and thus to consolidate the power of the Committee of Public Safety, of which Maximilien de Robespierre was the most powerful member. The Committee did away with a suspect’s right to public trial and to legal assistance. Those who, by their conduct,  their relationships, their remarks, their writing, or their neighbor’s accusation, were executed as partisans of tyranny and federalism and enemies of liberty. All told, between 18 and 40,000 lost their lives to the guillotine or as a result of imprisonment. (You’ll be glad to know that the bloodshed stopped when Robespierre himself was beheaded.)

This cemetery is a very somber place--not just because it is a cemetery--Père Lachaise Cemetery is a solemn place, but not sad in the same way--Picpus is sad because of the way these people died and the reason for their death. They died not because of what they did but because of who they were. 

Picpus Cemetery entry portals  

  

The simple, unadorned sign indicating the location of the mass graves 

The Chapel of Our Lady of Peace (Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix) is located at the entrance to the cemetery. 

A plaque beside the blue portal in honor of  General Pershing and the American Army in France, a gift from the Daughters of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin Chapter, Paris

A plaque on the other side of the blue portal in honor of General Lafayette, a gift from the Daughters of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin Chapter, Paris

A walkway in the garden of the former convent

Picpus Cemetery was created from land seized during the French Revolution from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin (Sisters of Saint Augustine).  The convent of the Chanoinesses de Saint-Augustin was created by King Louis XIII in 1640 outside of the old Parisian city walls.  In May, 1792, 4 years after the start of the French Revolution,  it was confiscated by the state. In March, 1794, it was converted into a prison hospital. In June, the garden was dug up to accommodate mass graves for approximately 1,300 men and women. 

A tree in the convent garden

A shrine to Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph with Jesus as a child

A vestige of the original convent chapel

The marker indicates that the chapel of the ancient convent was used by the gravediggers as an office to make an inventory of the clothes of those who had been executed.

Amidst the sounds of a very busy city, the convent garden and cemetery grounds are remarkably peaceful.

Walkway leading to the cemetery

Blue portals in the old convent wall open up from the garden to the cemetery.

Only descendants of the 1,306 victims executed during the Reign of Terror are eligible to be buried at Picpus Cemetery.

Family tomb of Montalembert

The Count Charles Forbes de Montalembert (1810-1870) was a  historian, politician and defender of the Catholic faith. He had two strikes against him--he was both a noble and a devout Catholic.

A view of the cemetery, with Lafayette’s tomb in the far corner

Family mausoleums

Lafayette’s tomb

The cemetery holds the tomb of the American Revolutionary hero, the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), over which an American flag is always present. He is buried next to his wife, Adrienne de Lafayette, whose sister, mother and grandmother were among those beheaded and thrown into the common pit. Past Lafayette’s grave, behind another blue gate (on the far left in the pic), lie the common graves from the Revolution.

On July 4, 1917, Charles E. Stanton, a colonel in the US Army, visited the tomb of  Marquis de Lafayette. To honor the nobleman's assistance during the Revolutionary War and assure the French people that the people of the United States would aid them in World War I, he said, “And here and now, in the presence of the illustrious dead, we pledge our hearts and our honor in carrying this war to a successful issue. Lafayette, we are here.” 

Every July 4, an American delegation places a wreath on Lafayette’s tomb, and the American flag is replaced during the ceremony. In the past, the ceremony has started at 11:00 AM. There are speeches, and a band plays the American & French anthems and both versions of Taps. Unfortunately, the ceremony is by invitation only.  I would love to attend this ceremony, as I will be in Paris on July 4, but I don't know how to do it. It's not as if a great number of people even know about this cemetery or memorial service, but it is still closed to the public on this day.

Becky in front of Lafayette’s tomb

A view back toward the entrance to the cemetery

Of the 1,109 men, there were 108 nobles, 108 churchmen, 136 monastics (gens de robe), 178 military, and 579 commoners. There are 197 women buried there, with 51 from the nobility, 23 nuns and 123 commoners.

A plaque commemorating poet André de Chenier, son of Greece and France,  “servit les muses, aima la sagesse, mourut pour la vérité”.

Among the women, 16 Carmelite nuns, aged 29 to 78,  became known as the “Martyrs of Compiegne.“ They were brought to the guillotine together, singing hymns as they were led to the scaffold. They were guillotined for refusing to renounce their vocation. They were beatified by the Catholic church in 1906. Their story is memorialized in books as well as in the opera, “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” by Francis Poulenc, which includes the sound of the dropping guillotine blade in the score.

The gate through which the bodies were brought from the Place de la Nation, where they were guillotined. 

A plaque beside the wooden gate dedicated to the victims of the Terror

The decapitated bodies of people from all walks of life were thrown in together in a pit dug at the end of the garden. A second pit was dug when the first filled up. The pits are now designated by the gravel areas. Commoners and nobles alike suffered the same fate and now rest together.

Trench # 2

Trench # 1

A visit to the chapel, Our Lady of Peace, before leaving the cemetery grounds.

The sculpture of the Virgin holding Jesus visible in the chapel was created in 1530 and is believed to have been the origin of countless miraculous healings, including the healing of King Louis XIV in 1658.

Choir practice

The names, ages, occupations and date of death for each of the 1,306 people interred in the mass graves are inscribed on enormous plaques on the walls of the chapel.  You can see one of the plaques in the background. The bloodshed stopped when Robespierre himself was beheaded on July 28, 1794.  

Leaving the chapel

How the Picpus Cemetery came to be:

In 1797, the land was acquired by Princess Amalie Zephyrine of Salm-Kyrburg, whose brother, Frederick III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg, was guillotined in 1794 and buried in one of the common graves created during the Revolution. In 1803, families whose members had been executed founded the Committee of the Society of Picpus to acquire the rest of the land on which the cemetery now sits. Even today, many noble families still use the cemetery as a burial place. 

Directions:

If you want to visit this cemetery, it is easily accessible by métro. However, do not exit at the Picpus métro stop (as I did) because Blvd de Picpus will only take you farther & farther away from 35, rue de Picpus. Instead, exit at Nation, take rue Fabre d’Eglantine to rue de Picpus, and you will arrive at your destination in 5 minutes. I would never have found the cemetery if it hadn’t been for a French couple who actually walked me there. Generally, hours are between 2 and 5pm, Tuesday -Sunday. The cost is 2 euros. Call before you go, and call after you get there if the doors are not open (01-43-44-18-54). It is worth the trouble.