Mazes and labyrinths

Another expired link to a thread on the old ATU site. (They don't last long, do they?) Another kiss of life:


Small maze.


Classical labyrinth.

Wiki:

A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single through-route with twists and turns but without branches, and is not designed to be as difficult to navigate. The pathways and walls in a maze or labyrinth are fixed (pre-determined) – puzzles where the walls and paths can change during the game are categorised as tour puzzles. The Cretan labyrinth is the oldest known maze.[

Public hedge maze in the "English Garden" at Schönbusch Park, Aschaffenburg, Germany

Labyrith of Barvaux, Durbuy.

Inside the labyrinth of Villa Pisani.

Wall maze off Caledonian Road, North London.

Public maze at Wild Adventures theme park, Valdosta, Georgia. It was removed before the 2010 season.

Maze at Missouri Botanical Gardens, St Louis.

Hampton Court from the air.

Jerome K. Jerome gives a very vivid account of the Hampton Court maze in Three Men in a Boat (not forgetting the Dog) written in 1889. Harris has a map of the maze, and yet gets lost. I wonder if he had the original plan, and the gaps were already in place (I am not quite sure when the gaps were inserted). That would make confuse him badly! The account does say "keep taking the first turning to the right", but he must have made a mistake, since that would have worked.

Jerome K. Jerome said that it cost two pence to enter the maze, and this is in 1889. These are old pence, of course. One of my correspondents used to live near Hampton Court as a kid, in the 1960s, and says that it cost less, only one old penny to get in. It now costs a lot more!

Gonzaga hedge maze, Barcelona.

The parc del Laberint d'Horta (Labyrinth Park of Horta) is a historical garden in the Horta-Guinardó district in Barcelona. Works began in 1791 when marquis Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena, owner of the lot, created the design of a neoclassical garden in collaboration with Italian architect Domenico Bagutti. Execution was made under direction of master builders Jaume and Andreu Valls as well as French gardener Joseph Delvalet. The maze was created created around 1794.

Soekershof is a collection of mazes and botanical gardens in South Africa.

Tohono O’odham Native American craftwork depicting man in maze.

Labyrinths in churches are found throughout Scandinavia. A few examples are graffiti, but the majority are painted as wall or ceiling decoration, as frescos directly onto fresh plaster. Unlike the pavement labyrinths to the south, with only one exception at Grinstad in Sweden, they are all of the old 'classical' design, or developments from it. They are scattered across southern Norway, Sweden and Finland, with the largest concentration in Denmark. Many are difficult to see or only partially preserved, the examples at Slidre and Seljord in Norway, Hablingbo and Grinstad in Sweden, Hesselager and Roerslev in Denmark and at Maaria church in Turku, Finland, are among the finest. All can be dated between the late 14th to early 16th centuries, with the possible exception of the unique example at Grinstad, which may belong to the early 13th century.


Maaria Kyrka, Turku, Finland


Levide, Gotland, Sweden

Once common throughout the British Isles and Germany, turf labyrinths were once a popular feature of village fairs and other festivities, but only a handful of historic examples survive. Many were situated on village greens or commons, often near churches, but other times on hilltops or in remote locations. Often difficult to date, the eight surviving historic turf labyrinths in England range from the late medieval to the 19th century. In recent years they have been joined by a number of modern examples and replicas in parks and playgrounds, on hilltops and headlands.

When I was a kid a labyrinth was one of the greatest things in life hehehe. I recall two, one of them this



the labyrinth of the gardens of the royal palace in La Granja de San Ildefonso. It is not impressive but when I was a kid sure it was.