Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/07/2026 20:28:00

A garden labyrinth on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venetian lagoon, created in 2011 as a tribute to the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose short story The Garden of Forking Paths (1941) and other works explored labyrinths as metaphors for time, infinity, and the structure of narrative. The labyrinth was designed by Randoll Coate, a British hedge-maze designer, and occupies an area within the grounds of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the island. The maze is planted in boxwood hedges trimmed to form a design that, viewed from above, spells Borges' name in stylised letters while incorporating symbols from his literary universe: hourglasses, mirrors, a tiger, and the letters of his name in both Roman and runic script. The paths wind through these symbolic elements, creating a walking experience that is simultaneously a physical puzzle and a literary reference for those familiar with Borges' work. The installation connects Venice to Borges through the writer's lifelong fascination with the city: his poem The Other Tiger references the mythological resonances of Venice, and the lagoon city's labyrinthine street plan -- where navigation relies on memory and intuition rather than visual logic -- embodies the spatial disorientation that Borges explored throughout his fiction. The choice of San Giorgio Maggiore, visible from Piazza San Marco but requiring a deliberate crossing by water, adds an element of pilgrimage to the visit. Access is via the San Giorgio Maggiore vaporetto stop on Line 2 from San Zaccaria. The labyrinth is accessible when the Fondazione Giorgio Cini's grounds are open, and visits can be combined with Palladio's church of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Vatican Chapels installation elsewhere on the island. The elevated view from the church's campanile reveals the maze's Borges-spelling plan from above.