The Labyrinth at St. George's Cathedral

My family is fascinated by mazes and labyrinths! (For the record, while mazes and labyrinths are structurally different, labyrinths are considered a subgroup of mazes. With a maze, the way you enter is different from the way you exit. While a labyrinth possesses only a single path leading to a central goal.)

Vince and I first became really interested in mazes and labyrinths when we visited Great Britain and France with our sons in the summer of 1995. We started our trip in London and drove to the Cotswolds and Wales, took the Chunnel across the Channel to France. After we exchanged our car for one that is meant to be driven on the right side of the road, we drove along the Normandy coast to Mont St. Michel before ending our trip in Paris. Coincidentally, 1995 had been declared the Year of the Maze in Great Britain. Perfect theme for seven and nine year old boys!

We visited the hedge mazes at Hampton Court Palace, Longleat Manor, and Hever Castle in England and the labyrinth at Cardiff Castle in Wales. Our sons became so fascinated with the idea of mazes and labyrinths in Great Britain that we continued to track them down when we got to France. We visited the stone floor labyrinths in the Cathedrals at Bayeux, Chartres and Reims too.

entrance to the cathedral courtyard

Because it is easy to see the goal from the entrance, scholars believe classical labyrinths were used for rituals and processions. Seven rings of paths marked their design. This type of design was commonly used during the Roman Empire, most often in mosaic pavements.

Medieval Christian mazes were a later variation on classical labyrinths. These models appeared as pavement mazes on cathedral floors in 13th century France. They were generally shaped as circles or octagons with 13 rings of paths. Turf mazes also commonly used this design, which often depicted the journey of the Crusades or a spiritual journey through life, death and salvation.

It was during the Middle Ages that labyrinths became puzzles with the advent of hedge mazes. Formal gardens in the traditional labyrinth design enjoyed popularity throughout Europe during this period. As designers discovered that a tall hedge prevented a visitor entering the maze from seeing the exit, the age of the puzzle maze began.

The St. George's Cathedral labyrinth in Cape Town is a replica of the one at the Cathedral in Chartres. I literally stumbled upon in when I visited the Cathedral at Christmastime looking for their Nativity scene. The brick pavement labyrinth is located behind the Cathedral in the courtyard. It is open to the public to walk and reflect. The labyrinth is open when the Cathedral is open. All you need to do is ring the doorbell and tell the secretary you would like to walk the labyrinth.

After I came home I began to wonder if there were more labyrinths in South Africa. And sure enough I found out that the Labyrinth Society maintains a world-wide labyrinth locator online which lists 45 labyrinths in South Africa! A-maze-ing!

walking the labyrinth