Labyrinth - Labyrinth As Pattern

Labyrinth As Pattern

In antiquity, the less complicated labyrinth pattern familiar from medieval examples was already developed. In Roman floor mosaics, the simple classical labyrinth is framed in the meander border pattern, squared off as the medium requires, but still recognisable. Often an image of the Minotaur appears in the centre of these mosaic labyrinths. Roman meander patterns gradually developed in complexity towards the fourfold shape that is now familiarly known as the medieval form. The labyrinth retains its connection with death and a triumphant return: at Hadrumentum in North Africa (now Sousse), a Roman family tomb has a fourfold labyrinth mosaic floor with a dying minotaur in the center and a mosaic inscription: "Enclosed here, he loses life" (Kern 169; Kerényi fig.31).

• Earliest recovered labyrinth, incised on a clay tablet from Pylos

• Minotaur in Labyrinth—a Roman mosaic at Conímbriga, Portugal

• Labyrinth made with 2500 burning tealights at December, 11th 2011 in the Holy Cross Church in Frankfurt am Main-Bornheim

• Sketch by Villard de Honnecourt (c.1230)

• Wall maze in Lucca Cathedral, Italy (probably medieval)

• Illustration of Jericho in a Farhi Bible (14th century)

• Basilica of St-Quentin, Aisne, France

• Cathedral of Amiens, France

• Stone labyrinth on Blå Jungfrun (Blue Virgin) island, Sweden

• Seven-ring classical labyrinth of unknown age in Rocky Valley near Tintagel, Cornwall, UK.

• Small turf maze near Dalby, North Yorkshire, UK

• Turf maze at Wing in Rutland, UK.

• Portrait of a man with labyrinth design on his chest, by Bartolomeo Veneto, Italy, early 16th century

• Minotaur at center of labyrinth, on a 16th-century gem.

• Edinburgh labyrinth, George Square Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

• 9/11 memorial labyrinth, Boston College, USA

• Labyrinth at the Chapel of St. Basil in Houston, Tx

• Labyrinth at St. Lambertus, Mingolsheim, Germany, following the Roman paradigm