Chartres labyrinth
The best known classical labyrinth is that of the Chartres cathedral in France and is also the only one of the large medieval labyrinths still existing. The next oldest, at St Quentin, dates from 1495 almost three centuries later. The Chartres labyrinth measures about 43 feet across and is set into the floor of the cathedral. Its general design is that first seen in an illuminated church manuscript dating back to 860 and which was called the ‘classic’ labyrinth. The design occurs regularly in manuscript illustration right up to the time the first floor labyrinths were built. After the construction of Chartes labyrinth, the design was renamed ‘Chartres’.
The design is based on a twelve circle concentric pattern with a radial division into four quadrants – like most of the floor labyrinths of the time it was laid across the width of the nave, and no contemporary document has been found that sheds any light on the transfer of the design from the manuscript to the floor. In other words, although we can walk this labyrinth, we don’t know why the builders of that period suddenly began to make walkable labyrinths rather than ones that were followed with a finger in a book, as part of a prayer or meditation.
One clue may be that there had been smaller labyrinths on the floors before: Roman labyrinths were normally mosaic floor decorations and some medieval labyrinths were wall decorations, so the new floor labyrinths may have been a result of new building and paving technology that allowed the builders of the time to construct them in this way, rather than a change of behaviour amongst the religious folk who used the cathedrals.
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