York Maze finally revealed their design for the 2023 Maze, in time for their opening on Saturday the 15th of July.
Legendary Pharaoh King ‘Tut’ Tutankhamun will be the star of this year’s design and his iconic golden sarcophagus will be the backdrop for hours of summer fun at the maze.
Farmer Tom Pearcy is himself an avid amateur Egyptologist, and so wanted to do something special to honour the 100th anniversary of the opening of the tomb. The Tutankhamun discovery is marked by most experts as the most significant moment in archaeological history— it was the first completely unopened Egyptian tomb ever uncovered.
To commemorate York’s own reference to the anniversary, the Maze was this year opened by George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon who is the Great Grandson to the Lord Carnarvon who financed the 1922 expedition and first entered the tomb in 1923, just months before his untimely death.
Lord Carnarvon had this to say: “Him and Howard Carter’s work have changed mankind’s perception of this extraordinary civilization.
It is fantastic that 100 years on, this amazing image of Tutankhamun will also be sent around the world.” (sic)
He was also amazed when asked about the sheer scale of the tribute to his great grandfather’s discovery: “It has to be the biggest depiction of his iconic face and the golden mask [I’ve ever seen]. It’s a great idea to have a maze with people wandering around the pharaoh’s face.”
Farmer Tom works hard all year to put together this summer escapade for locals. Planting over one million maize seeds and cutting three miles worth of paths within the maze for us to get lost on our way to the centre.
Tom explains that this year’s design was particularly intricate: “I design it on software, it’s basically a drawing with a kind of computerised GPS technology. Then I take the design, put it onto a handheld GPS device, and then we basically walk around the field and I have to mark the ground every three metres with my foot. Then there’s a little machine that comes behind, chops out the plants we don’t want, and then we keep our fingers crossed that we’ve actually chopped out the right plants in the right place.”
Tom was keen this year to put all that effort into something he’s passionate about: “I’m actually a massive fan of Egyptology and have always had this sort of fascination with it. I think there’s something sort of mystical about it. It’s always been one of my sort of boyhood interests.
I saw the opportunity, of this great 100-year anniversary. The sarcophagus just fit perfectly into the field and would make a great maze so hey presto!”
The Tutankhamun maze opened on Saturday the 15th of July and will be open until the 4th of September. For more information about tickets as well the details about 20 other maze and corn-themed rides, attractions and shows head to www.yorkmaze.co.uk/.
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