Chartres Labyrinth
The Chartres Labyrinth is located in Chartres Cathedral in the Eure-et-Loir department in France .
The labyrinth made of black and gray stone slabs at the beginning of the 13th century is worked into the floor of the cathedral . It measures over 12 meters in diameter and is a 261.50 m long path that winds through 11 concentric circles and 34 hairpin bends towards the center. The number of stone slabs that form the path is given as 273 according to the official representation of the local construction hut. In the middle of the labyrinth was, as is known from a description from 1640, a representation of the battle between Theseus and Minotaur . Therefore, this type of maze is also called classic .
Labyrinths are not mazes . You have a single, winding path that leads from the starting point to the destination as long as possible.
Usually the nave of the cathedral is seated and the labyrinth is covered with it. It is a tradition on St. John's Day , June 24th, to remove the chairs and make the labyrinth accessible. In recent years, the labyrinth has also been discovered almost every Friday in the summer months.
literature
- Hermann Kern: Labyrinths . Prestel, Munich 1982, 491 pp.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 26 ′ 50 ″ N , 1 ° 29 ′ 16 ″ E