10 Most Incredible Mazes and Labyrinths
Thu, Nov 20, 2008
Mazes and labyrinths are more part and parcel of our culture than people realise. Their roots can be traced back to Greek mythology and Paganism, where they were regarded as mystical. It wasn’t until a few hundred years ago that mazes were designed for fun (sadists), and often became a perfect meeting place for secret lovers and cunning planners. Over time they have become associated with entrapment and enclosure as our imaginations run wild.
We’ve found some of the world’s largest, craziest and highest mazes so you can loose yourself in the great tangled weave of the web for a while. They’re simply quite a-maze-ing.
via Blue Moon Cottages
1. Ashcombe Maze is found on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne. It’s Australia’s largest and oldest maze and measures three meters high by two meters wide. The gardens also boast the world’s oldest rose maze, which blooms 217 varieties of roses on 1,200 bushes.
2. Richardson Farm in Illinois has become something of a fixture in the maze-making stakes. Every year they create a new maze just before the harvest and allow the general public to come and enjoy getting lost in nature. This Aztec style face was one of the smaller mazes mowed out a few years ago.
MineshaftCanaries
3. Fancy a game of snakes and ladders? It might take a while, though. This maze was lovingly created by Michael Blee of Gore Farm, Upchurch in Kent. The hedges are a whopping 9ft tall and meander over 6 acres of land. Mr Blee hopes the giant game makes it into the Guinness Book of Records.
via Daily Mail
4. Ever wanted to get locked in an enchanted castle and wait for your Prince Charming to come? Well, now’s your chance. The castle is one of the 2008 mazes on Richardson Farm, but it closes at the end of October so you only have a few days for your knight in shining armour to whisk you away to pastures new. A labyrinth, like this castle, has one way in and one way out so you have to follow a certain route to escape. Mazes can have multiple entrances and exits with lots of dead ends, so can be much more confusing.
Richardson Farm
5. Officially the world’s largest maze, according to the Guinness Book of Records 2001, the Pineapple Garden Maze offers over three miles of paths on three acres. You really wouldn’t want to get lost. It is located in Waimea Bay, Hawaii at Dole Plantation and certainly looks scary from the air.
Cosmic kid
6. Once one of the world’s largest plant mazes, this circular creation covers 10 acres of land at Reignac-sur-Indre in Touraine, France. It too is reaped every year and grows back in a different form as a result of careful design, planning and farming.
via Les Bazeilles
7. This corn maze challenge is part of Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Get lost in 2.5 miles of trails over five acres, but don’t worry, it’s difficult to get lost in this one – there are maze masters on hand to help out should you find yourself being consumed by it all. As long as you keep images of Children of the Corn out of your head, you’ll be fine. Maybe.
Cherry Crest Farm
8. The English have always loved elaborate mazes and one of their most famous can be found within the grounds of the majestic Hampton Court Palace, not far from London. The maze was planted in the late 1600s for King William of Orange and covers an area of 60 acres. Only a small section is shown here. The palace itself dates back to the time of King Henry VIII in the early 1500s and remains in excellent condition.
Image: Binusha
9. The Georgeson Botanical Garden in Fairbanks, Alaska is officially a maze, and is still a work in progress, even after seven years. This photograph shows only three petals completed but since the image was taken the other petals have been planted.
Fresh Dirt
10. The maze at Villa Pisani, in the Veneto region of Italy, was created in the early 1700s, and is said to be once of the world’s most complicated. Located in the town of Stra, the maze is made up of layers of pathways in 12 concentric rings with high hedges leading to a central tower. Famously, because Napoleon had once been lost in the maze, when Hitler and Mussolini met for a chin wag there, neither of them were willing to venture into the maze in case they too got lost. Imagine the path of history then.
Follies of Europe
If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed? We’ll even throw in a free album.
2 Trackbacks For This Post
-
Something aMAZEing « Just Another Urban Kid Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 7:05 pm[...] Graffiti has listed the 10 most incredible mazes and labyrinths in the world. The most interesting realization for me, as I researched the subject a bit, was the [...]
-
Ten Most Incredible Mazes - YardLimits.com Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 2:55 am[...] Ten Most Incredible Mazes 10 Most Incredible Mazes and Labyrinths|Environmental Graffiti [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Very interesting article!
By the way, the “Aztec face” in #2 is actually Chief Illiniwek, the former mascot of the University of Illinois.
November 21st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
The “Aztec style face” is the University of Illinois logo (which unfortunately was retired last year). It isn’t Aztec in any way. Do some research.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:00 pm
@Brian
How lovely! During researching the maze nothing pointed to the maze being the University’s logo, it only says ‘chief’ on the farm’s site, so unless you’re from Illinois why in the world would you expect people to know who it is?
@AC
glad you like it, and thanks for the proper clarification.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
The Cherry Crest Farm in #7 is actually part of an international group of 7 different corn (maize) mazes throughout the Northeastern US & 2 in the UK. (http://www.americanmaze.com)
They do a different themed maze design each year, usually opening in late July or early August, and running through early November.
We’ve been visiting the Cherry Crest maze for several years with our kids, and they have a great time every year.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Don’t forget the amazing Davis MegaMaze! This corn maze located in Clinton, Massachusetts is completely remade every year! For the past 6 years, check out their website: http://www.davisfarmland.com/megamaze/pastmazes.html
November 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
And you can cheat using google maps… like so:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=davis+farmland,+clinton,+ma&sll=42.435383,-71.731603&sspn=0.009803,0.011609&ie=UTF8&ll=42.438471,-71.724157&spn=0.002569,0.002902&t=h&z=18
November 21st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
That is not an aztec face, it is Chief Illiniwek!!! CHIEF!
November 21st, 2008 at 6:23 pm
An honourable mention should also go to longleat maze, many a happy hour spent lost inside.
http://www.longleat.co.uk/attractions/hedge-maze.html
November 21st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
great mazes. :)
November 21st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
truly aMAZEing
November 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I went through a few corn mazes in October, it’s a lot different when your looking from above then walking in them =).
November 21st, 2008 at 7:43 pm
This is simply amazing. I never quite realized the appeal in mazes and such in movies like Harry Potter, but this article has done a really good job of showcasing the coolness of it all. I can only imagine what it would be like to go running through those 9-foot hedges, trying to find the exit! X3
November 21st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
@Linda McCormick
I can see how you may not know who Chief Illiniwek is, but a simple google search of Illinois + Chief would have given you the result. Any fan of college football would have been able to identify the logo as well. Even not naming the Chief would have been ok, but to refer to him as “”Aztec” is just a slap in the face. It would be similar to seeing an Native American face carved into a field in Florida and saying “Oh, look at this nice Mayan maze here”. Personally, I would recommend changing that line in the article if at all possible.
November 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
How lovely!
I really enjoyed your article. It reminded me of my trips to the Dole Plantation many… many years ago. It makes me want to build a small one in my backyard for the young ones…. and for me!
November 21st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Simply amazing! I was lucky enough to visit a hedge maze during my last excursion to England ( summer ‘08 ), and they certainly are fascinating. I didn’t realize they could get that big!
I’ll have to keep a better eye out for these.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Thank You the mazes were awsome!!!
November 21st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Great article! The ‘real’ enjoyment was trying to find some of these mazes using Google Earth.
…btw- please do not allow others to dampen your day, both my son & I enjoyed the post :)
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Cool list. Thank goodness the University of Illinois logo was finally retired. Old donors kept it from being retired by threatening to stop giving if the school stopped using their bastardized native american mascot.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
the maze in Illinois isn’t Aztec…that’s the University of Illinois’ mascot and logo, the fighting Illini.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Illinilogo.png
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:32 am
haha looks like I should have read the comments first, oh well
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I really like number 6 and 7 :)!
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
This is too cool! I feel like being 5 again!
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I’m originally from Illinois where I was on the staff of the University. Urbana Illinois is where two of our children were born. I worked in Altgeld Hall and lived above Bidwell’s Tavern; and I think the maze looks like an Aztec Indian too. Some people are too busy picking nits to enjoy a wonderful collection of pictures.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:52 am
For any maze or labyrinth, it’s solution is given to you at its entrance. Simply place your hand on the left or right side and you shall ALWAYS come to its exit. Go ahead and try it on one printed in you local newspaper or a childrens play book. As a bonus, not only will you not get lost, you will get to go thru every dead end.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I’d have a comment, but after looking at those mazes, I’m all confused!
November 24th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I love mazes! Thanks for the list.
Though, the Hedge Maze from Hampton Court is shown in full in the picture. It is actually quite a small maze. It may have been bigger during William of Orange’s time.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Beautifully. It is a pity in my city there is no such, it would be a great place interesting evening or day if lost)
November 24th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
@Gary: Sorry, but this doesn’t work for all mazes.
Specifically, it won’t work for any maze with a central island. Many modern mazes have one.
November 26th, 2008 at 12:06 am
pretty cool i want to go to one!
November 27th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Nice. I have been in one called Laberinto de Horta in Barcelona, Spain. But is definetely not as amaizing as this ones.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I remember resolving one of them, but it was easier than these mazes. Nice experience.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Hello,
My name is Chloé Cavagna and I’m a french journalist working for a new TV show called “Global resistance” about the new form of activism and subculture in general. It’s a 70 minutes show aired on the French public channel called France 4.
I’m really interested by the militant activist movements in Europe and all over the world. I have seen one of your video on daily motion, and then I went on your website to get your contact information!
For this TV show, we are actually searching for groups which are really implicated in activism and use comedy, provocation, art (…)as means of expression that we could follow on a report.
We are searching for environmental graffiti artists, as well as reverse graffiti artists to do a report in January or February 2009.
Thanks for your help and for forwarding this mail to other groups. If you have some other contacts, I would appreciate if you could send me their info… Thanks so much!
Best regards.
Chloé Cavagna
KM Production
01 47 61 84 00
cavagna@kmprod.fr
December 18th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Wow, these are so cool! I love mazes and labyrinths! Thanks for this post. The first time I visited the UK in 1997, we stopped at Hampton Court Palace. It was so cool to be where Henry VIII was back in the 1500s. The gardens are spectacular:)