Dolen in dit doolhof: The (Labyrinthine) “Tuin van Bezinning” at Warnsveld (NL)

The Dutch Maze and Labyrinth Symposium 2011 finished officially on June 3. Outside the provided programme we could find this extraordinary labyrinthine art work.

Tuin van Bezinning

In the park of the police academy in the Huis ‘t Velde at Warnsveld lies the “Tuin van Bezinning” (garden of reflection) called national monument by and for the police in the Netherlands. It is a place where people can commemorate and pay honor to those police officers who have died since January 1, 1946 in the performance of her duty, as a result of violence or an accident. The garden is designed as a place for rest, contemplation and reflection on the fundamental values of the police profession. The garden also serves an important function in the formation and development of police officers.
The design, by the firm of landscape architects Poelmans Reesink, is a labyrinth of raised grass and shell paths. The areas of grass are in the shape of acanthus leaves. At the beginning of the 18th century, Daniel Marot, who contributed to the present architecture of Huis ‘t Velde, also applied the acanthus leaf in his architectural details. The names of the deceased police officers are inscribed along the edges of the leaf shapes. In a digital memorial book till now 140 names are listed and the place of every inscription is marked in a site plan.
A water basin at central place is fed from 12 spouts and the water is conducted to the nearby flowing Berkel. 
The official opening was in March 2006. Every year on the 2nd  Thursday in June a commemoration ceremony takes place.

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The garden is no labyrinth in the strict sense, but the alignment makes it a labyrinth, even more than the already visited “Energy”. Since there is an unequivocal way to the centre. Even if it has several entrances and exits and even bifurcations and dead ends like a maze, nevertheless, it leads in quite a subtle way to the middle. Though the centre is quite a narrow place beside the water basin, it is the highest spot of the whole installation. And if one exactly looks at the steel tins limiting the path and follows her course, one finds unambiguously into the middle. One sees the dead ends in advance and can avoid them while walking to the centre. The steps have a meaning by itself, but are not part of the unequivocal way.

The garden is open daily from dawn to dusk. A big parking lot exists.
Here the interactive map of Google Earth, above all for those who want to visit the memorial. It is not easy to find and also most locals do not know it:

Related links (in Dutch)

• Tuin van Bezinning: Article on Wikipedia
• Tuin van Bezinning: Website of the police

Dolen in dit doolhof: The (Labyrinthine) Artwork “Energy” at Lochem (NL)

The Dutch Maze and Labyrinth Symposium 2011 finished officially on June 3. We prolongated our stay and, besides, have also visited this art work.
Though it is not a labyrinth in the strict sense, however, contains labyrinthine elements. The earthwork in the form of land art with the name “Energy” was created in 1995 from the artist Shlomo Korèn (1932 – ) near Lochem on the waterfront of the Twentekanaal.
It lies on a meadow between the canal and a crossroads; not far away from a steel bridge about the canal and limited by a cycle track, the street berm and a little wood. The main attraction is a steel ball of four metres of diameter which can freely move in water ditches. According to wind direction and frictional resistance it is to be found at different places. The water ditches form an endless loop. There are paths between them, but a section of it forms a long-drawn-out island that can not be achieved.

Here an exploration of the earthwork in a slide show:

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Only from the bird’s-eye view the lines can be properly understood. Google Earth makes this possible:

Dolen in dit doolhof: The Labyrinth of Mallem at Eibergen (NL)

The Dutch Maze and Labyrinth Symposium 2011 was in Eibergen, not far away from the labyrinth built in 2003 by the Scottish land artist Jim Buchanan. He used the square labyrinth design known from a Cretan coin, dated 430 – 350 B.C.

Classical square labyrinth with 3 circuits

The artwork is at the place of the former castle of Mallem from which only the moat remained. In these historical surroundings Jim Buchanan has created the labyrinth by commission of the Rouffaer-van Heek Foundation as earthwork. The plateau covers 35 x 35 m with three right-angled circuits leading to a small circular tower in the centre. The rotunda is half in the earth, but open to the sky. The earth walls are about 1.50 m high, the pathways length amounts to 270 m.

Jim Buchanan was one of the expert speakers at the symposium. At the end of the first day there was a walk to the labyrinth with a special event. He had transformed the small rotunda into a camera obscura.

Here some impressions from the event:

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One can perceive the labyrinth very good in Google Earth:

Dolen in dit doolhof: The Labyrinth in the Hospital “Onze Lievevrouwe Gasthuis” at Amsterdam (NL)

The last station on June 3, 2011 on tour B of the Dutch Maze and Labyrinth Symposium 2011 was the chapel Our Lady in a great hospital at Amsterdam.

View into the chapel

The labyrinth of type Ravenna lies in the entrance area of the chapel built by architect Ba Molenaar in Roman style. It is very difficult to recognise, because it is marked only by roughened lines in the otherwise smooth floor from rectangular sandstone flags. According to incidence of light and point of view one can see the pattern. The engraved surfaces show the way. Most visitors will not note it probably at all. Besides, the lines are very small, so that it is hardly suitable for walking.

View sidewards

The tiles

View forwards

View to the entrance

Detail of the lines

Detail of the centre