Labyrinth routes around the Middle Age Baltic Sea

Abstract

Stone labyrinths are archaeological monuments found predominantly in the Nordic countries around the Baltic Sea, some 500 specimens are noted in Sweden and Finland. The abundance of smaller stones has provided the building material for lasting monuments around the Baltic Sea, the Swedish west coast and Norway, Iceland, the Scilly islands in England, the Barents Sea and the White Sea’s shores and rivers. Presumed to have an origin as a Middle Age Ca- tholic religious symbol expressed in different media, this may be a reason for the labyrinth- symbol not to be described in texts. Its layout containing and conveying a religious message would then have had to be learned, taught, and conveyed by, in this case, Catholic elites, such as priests, friars, and church fresco artists. Drawing on historical and contemporary research this paper is trying to establish what cor- relations there are between the labyrinth-symbol and the Middle Age Catholic Church. Since historical written sources about the labyrinth symbol are scarce, the structuring of Anders Andrén is followed as method in reading the symbol as expressed in the Middle Ages as category, such as the walk-in-labyrinths, object, i.e. frescos, effigies, and house hold objects, document, as inter alia drawn symbols in manuscripts and discursive coherence, such as legends and place names. These will then be related to each other in the time, spatial circum- stances, and cultural context of mediaeval Catholic Europe to establish a correlation with the function and use of the labyrinth-symbol within the Catholic culture around the Baltic Sea.