One thing I remember thinking on one of my first trips to Europe was "Why doesn't someone 'restore' a castle to a specific era?" It would be such a cool experience.
Granted, many that are in reasonable shape have evolved over time so doing so would maybe remove a lot of history.... that's not desirable. But there are plenty in ruined states that might be good candidates.
It was such a contrast to where in the US some historical sites are rebuilt wholesale and seeing them operational and alive is a lot of fun.
Many castles have been renovated and restored, some of them to a state close to one period of the past, others with a new style, etc. In France, a whole lot of monuments were restored during the 19th century mainly.
For example the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes, was renovated in the mid 19th century to remove the modern additions and get it back to its supposed 16th century state (the period when it was actually used by the Dukes of Brittany).
The castle of Belle-Île was also restored, in the 20th century, to its 18th century state, this one entirely through private funds.
Another castle I know well is the Suscinio castle, which was a complete ruin and was restored in the second half of the 20th century, but not to its former state.
And for another restoration effort with yet another kind of result, het Gravensteen in Ghent was restored in the 19th to its supposed 12th century state, but they got it mostly wrong. That's what happened with most restoration efforts during this period, as far as I know.
Today, the most common stance is often to preserve ruins as they are, keep them from degrading further and do the least work possible on them because we are well aware of all the botched restoration efforts of the past.
> One thing I remember thinking on one of my first trips to Europe was "Why doesn't someone 'restore' a castle to a specific era?" It would be such a cool experience.
They are restoring historical sites to specific eras all the time. Not sure how common it is with castles, though.
The way they are doing Guédelon is incredibly expensive: they aren't just restoring to the specs, but they are using period techniques, too. That means it takes longer and has fewer skilled workers available.
(They made some exceptions for modern safety laws.)
Granted, many that are in reasonable shape have evolved over time so doing so would maybe remove a lot of history.... that's not desirable. But there are plenty in ruined states that might be good candidates.
It was such a contrast to where in the US some historical sites are rebuilt wholesale and seeing them operational and alive is a lot of fun.