Public Art: The Leicester Maze (Former)

Used to love the maze. now our lovely mr soulsby has had it paved over and ruined yet more of historical leicester!

This suface-level maze is constructed from dark red block-paving blocks (each of which bears a unique message or name impressed into that block) and yellow block-paving blocks (which act as the "hedges" or framework). it was constructed in 1992 after leicester city council, to celebrate "the year of the maze" and, thinking along the lines of medieval low-wall turf mazes such as in the village of wing in rutland, encouraged leicester individuals, families and groups to buy a block - either standard size or a four times larger size (also termed family size) - upon which their chosen message(s) or name(s) would be impressed into the wet material before the block was fired in a kiln. once the requisite number of blocks had been bought the maze was assembled in this location (adjacent to town hall square) along with two stone plaques (which state "leicester maze 1992") as well as a low protecting wall and a rail on the one side nearest the road. it was a source of interest in the years immediately after its installation with people slowly walking the route of the maze reading the messages as they went. unfortunately these days, it is generally ignored by the majority of people who walk by or across it unless they have a personal involvement in it. that is a shame so, if you are nearby and have five or ten minutes to spare, it would be worthwhile to take a look at this maze and read the various inscriptions. update to my original review of three years ago: as a result of leicester city council's plan to open-up space between leicester retail market and town hall square a building adjacent to the leicester maze's location was demolished in 2021. the blocks comprising the maze were removed for their protection before the demolition was undertaken. this year (2022), only the blocks with inscriptions on them have been reinstalled in a different location a short distance from their original location but in a rectangle, not in the maze arrangement as before, and without the slabs with 'leicester maze' and '1992' carved on them (see my photos taken today 8th february 2022). this is not something i agree with as these blocks now have had their raison d'etre removed by this action of leicester city council which goes negatively against the basis upon which people were pursuaded to buy their blocks in 1991/1992. the maze was perfectly alright in it's original location for 29 years until the adjacent demolition action unconnected with it and i cannot see why 'the leicester maze' couldn't have been assembled in it's original orientation in this new location since all it's elements were removed to avoid damage to it before the heavy demolition equipment began their work.