The labyrinth was visible between the chairs when I was there this past
August; there was a sign to the effect that the labyrinth was uncovered
for personal meditation at 7 pm on Saturday evenings (this is not a direct
quote!); but I don't remember a concrete slab ...
Scott
On 18 Dec 1999, Christopher Crockett wrote:
> Patricia Legorreta wrote:
>
> >A friend traveled to Chartres recently and told me that the famous maze in
> the cathedral is covered with a huge slab of concrete, bolted down.
> I would appreciate if someone could tell me since when and the purpose of it.
>
>
> Dear Patricia,
>
> (Curious how rumors get started and propagate/transmografy)
>
> I haven't been there for a decade now, so i suppose anything is
> possible--maybe the whole cathedral has been replaced by a parking lot
> (it does take up *so* danged much space, after all, and i wouldn't put
> *any*thing past the "Authorities").
>
> Back in the Old Days (pre-1989), however, the maze was indeed there, occupying
> most of the width of the nave, well West of the crossing, somewhat visible
> between the rows of fine chairs generously provided by the Cult.
>
> And there was, indeed, a sort of slab of concrete(?) at the center
> (though it is/was not really "huge" as you can see here:
>
> http://www.cis.vt.edu/fac/pryds/labyrinth/labyrinth.jpeg
> the base of one of the pier colonettes at left gives you some sense of
> scale--it is about half a meter in diameter)
>
> And there are, indeed, the well-worn remains of somethings which might have
> been bolts in this center "slab."
>
> i've always *assumed* that there was some sort of brass plaque there
> which was taken up and melted down for cannon makings at the time of the
> Revolutionary/Napoleonic wars, but i've never read anything on the Labyrinth
> at all, so that's just a surmise happily unencumbered by the slightest
> semblence of actual knowledge.
>
> As best i can make out the purpose of the maze was to provide a source of
> income for descendants of the far-sighted original builders via the production
> of an endless number of "Mysteries of the Cathedral of Chartres" books, each
> one more hoakie than the other.
>
> Otoh, the Chartres maze is not the only one known to have existed--there was
> one at Amiens and quite an interesting one at Reims which had images of the
> four architects of the cathedral at the corners and, i believe, an archbishop
> in the middle.
>
> http://www.cis.vt.edu/fac/pryds/Labyrinth.html (bottom of the page)
>
> Last year Ameia Carr posted this to a discussion on the history list:
>
> "The labyrinth [at Reims] is no longer extant, and I am unable to
> unearth a picture, but one textbook discussion of the Reims labyrinth includes
> the comment that it 'was preserved until 1778, when one of the canons,
> annoyed by the constant commotion caused by children and idlers following the
> twisted path, donated 1,000 livres to have it replaced with plain paving
> slabs.' We might want to make a distinction between pious intentions and
> popular usage of church labyrinths."
>
> You might find something interesting in an article by the late American
> architectural historian, Robert Branner: "The Labyrinth of Reims Cathedral,"
> JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS, Vol.
> XXII, 1963, 1, pp. 18-25.
>
> Best from this dark place,
>
> Christopher
>
>
>
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>
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