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A single winding path set into a floor — not a maze.
Also known as: Turf maze, Winding path in a church floor, Maze pattern on a floor
One path, no choices, no dead ends. That is the whole distinction from a maze and the reason it works as a devotional walk: nobody can get lost, so walking it requires no attention at all.
Distinct from a maze, which offers choices and can be got wrong. A labyrinth cannot: it has one route and following it needs no decisions, which is what makes it usable as a meditative walk.
The two words are used interchangeably in ordinary speech and are not the same figure.
Frequently described as a substitute pilgrimage for those unable to travel to Jerusalem. The claim is widespread and the medieval evidence for it is thin; the documented uses are later than the pavements.
A popular explanation that outruns its sources.
A large circular or square figure of concentric winding bands set into a floor, the bands forming one continuous path folding back on itself toward a centre.