French Pavement Labyrinths
| ARCHDIOCESE OF SENS: - Auxerre - Chartres - Sens ARCHDIOCESE OF REIMS: - Amiens - Arras - Reims - St. Bertin - St. Quentin |
In stark contrast to their Italian cousins, the pavement labyrinths of Gothic France were not only larger, averaging diameters of ten meters, they were also presented in a less flamboyant manner, often being constructed with a combination of white and black-blue paving stones.[2] That being said, they were equally, if not more, impressive than their southern relatives, and served a variety of purposes which were never attached to the ones south of the Alps. The labyrinths of France were built primarily in two archdioceses: Sens and Reims. Both were historically pivotal bishoprics in the Catholic Church, and while generally employing the same pattern, they can be distinguished from each other because the labyrinths built for Sens were circular, and those built for Reims were octagonal.
French pavement labyrinths are also different from their Italian cousins in that they often omit imagery pertaining to Theseus and the Minotaur.[3] Since the labyrinths in Italy often pointed toward this Greek legend in order to make an analogous connection with Christ, this exclusion suggests that the labyrinths of France were not merely a symbolic representation for Christ’s Harrowing of Hell.[4]
Possible Uses of or Symbolism connected with French Pavement Labyrinths:
[1] Source: “Labyrinths, Introduction.” Lavigne Homepage. Web. 5 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.lavigne.dk/labyrinth/e1intro.htm>.
[2] Daniel K. Connolly, “At the Center of the World: the Labyrinth Pavement of Chartres Cathedral” from Art and Architecture of Late Medieval Pilgrimage in Northern Europe and the British Isles, Ed. Sarah Blick and Rita Tekippe (Boston, Brill Academic Publishers, 2005). 285-314; Jean Villete, “La labyrinth de la cathédrale de Chartres,” from Monde médiéval et société chartraine: Actes du colloque international organisé par la Ville et le Diocèse de Chartres à l'occasion du 8e centenaire de la Cathédrale de Chartres 8-10 septembre 1994. Ed. Jean-Robert Armogathe (Paris, Picard, 1994) 307.
[3] Hermann Kern, Through the Labyrinth (New York, Prestel, 2000).
[4] Connolly, “At the Center of the World,” 290; Kern, Through the Labyrinth,
