Several years ago during one of my stays in Austria, I had the opportunity to visit a very special site of an ongoing ‘living history’ project in Austria.
It was one of the many adventures set upon by my Templar family in Kärnten, and what a treat it was! On this particular occasion in summer, the theme of the day revolved around by-gone everyday life.
Wolfgang grinned silently as he pulled into a grassy meadow to park his truck. Only a rough trail head gave any indication of where we might be headed; I had no idea where he was taking me, but he promised that the surprise that lay at the end of the trail would be of great interest.
We trod up the mountain past thickets of elderflower bushes that covered the pine forest floor, surrounded by fresh verdancy of Austrian summer. Soon, the trail emptied into a clearing, revealing a building site of a medieval style castle under construction. Erlebnis Burgbau Friesach was in its earliest stages; a living experiment in building a castle with medieval techniques and materials.
We spent the morning observing several craftsmen working in their trade. Unlike a modern day construction site, there were no blustering diesel-shovels, giant cranes or beeping backhoes. Only the sounds of hammers and axes echoed against an occasional rush of a car passing along the narrow highway in the distance. Now all these years later, the Austrian project continues forward, making headway on the construction of their castle.
Just recently, I learned from a Texans Templar brother that there is another castle being built in Burgundy, along the same premise from his Masonic Blog. This link is to a BBC documentary series on Secrets of Building a Castle. In his article, you can find links to the series 5 one hour episodes (available on U-tube) which goes into gratitude depth of how the Burgundian builders might have worked their crafts. Guédelon Castle is amazing! Watch it on a big screen and it comes alive!
L.S. Berthelsen 