About Us

Michel Guyot, the inventor

A visionary-cum-amateur archaeologist-cum-entrepreneur

The man behind the Ozark Medieval Fortress is passionate about castles.

As a teenager, Michel Guyot spent his vacation helping to restore national heritage sites in his home country of France. He studied art in Paris (Beaux-Arts) and also devoted himself to another passion: horses.

Guyot loved the ancient architecture and castle surroundings and covered kilometers all over France looking for ruined castles to rescue. It was at this time that he bought his first castle, a ruin in Berry. He paid for it by giving riding lessons for three years.

In 1979, he took the enormous Château of Saint Fargeau off the hands of the local council and bought it. It needed extensive repair including 20,000 square meters of roofing. To help finance the costs of renovation, he opened the castle to the public and created a spectacle of light and sound held on weekends in July and August. This popular live show uses 700 volunteer actors who re-enact over 500 years of the castle’s history.

Those efforts have helped restore the castle of Saint-Fargeau to its former glory and make it a beautiful tourist attraction.

Guyot wanted to share his passion with others and he became involved in other projects designed to rescue “unwanted” ruins.

He was amazed at the work of the artisans and wondered how these grand structures with high vaulted ceilings had been created centuries ago, long before the advent of power tools. “Anyone who goes to a medieval castle or cathedral cannot help but wonder how on earth our ancestors built such things”.

He promised himself if he ever had the chance, he would build a medieval castle in the medieval way.

In 1997, filled with a burning desire to see this dream become a reality, he set up a team along with volunteers and scientific experts. He created the concept of Guedelon consisting of building a real medieval castle from scratch, recreating at the same time the old skills required for such a construction: stone masons, stone cutters, carpenters, rope makers wood cutters, carters, and getting to finance the project thanks to the visitors’ fee.

In September 2008, Jean-Marc and Solange Mirat two French citizens who retired in the United States visited Guédelon. They were impressed with the project and thought that their land in rural Arkansas might also be suitable to serve as a similar construction site.

They contacted Guyot and offered a portion of their land for sale, an admirable place to build a fortress: a handmade medieval castle in America!

Ground was broken in June 2009 and the Ozark Medieval Fortress will be open to the public in May 2010.

← The Scientific Team