Theme Pavilions
Labyrinth
Labyrinth is one of the most ambitious of all the projects. It is an interpretation and a consummation of Expo's unique Theme program.
The intention of Labyrinth, prepared by the National Film Board of Canada, is to tell significantly in a 45 minute film the essential Story of Man.
The Labyrinth Pavilion is in Cité du Havre, a short walk from Expo's man entrance.
A dictionary definition of Labyrinth is a place construted of or full of intricate passageways and blind alleys. Labyrinth at the Universal and Intrernational Exhibition of 1967 is a contemporary adaptation of the minotaur legend of ancient Greece. The Minotaur was a monster, half bull and half man, living in a Labyrinth. Each year tribute was exacted of Athenian maidens and youths whom the Minotaur devoured. Then the hero Theseus slew the Minotaur.
Relating this idea ti the Thme of Expo, Man and his World, the film makers draw an analogy. As Theseus the hero advanced through the mysterious passageways of the Labyrinth, so man throughout time has been exploring the planet earth and his environment, from cave man to spaceman.
Labyrinth is intended to bring the viewer intimate insight into the fundamental significance of man and his World.
Film for Labyrinth has been specially shot by cameramen in many countries. There are no name stars to this movie, the dominant character is man!
In the first long, high chamber spectators experience a sense of participation comparable to dropping out into space, with the world left far below. In the secon chamber, visitors move along walkways set between mirrored glass prisms.
In the final chamber, the audience faces a multiscreen battery of unparalleled scope, using five screens, so that areas of the mind are exercised that almost certainly have not been exercised before.
If Theseus in thes immensly expanded legend is man, what is the Minotaur? To visit Labyrinth is to find the answer to that question.
For millions of visitors, Labyrinth will certainly one of Expo's unforgettable highlight. Labyrinths have been associated by man from distant antiquity with his striving to bring significance and coherence to his experience.
( Document: Official Guide of l'Expo 67, Copyright 1967 by Maclean-Hunter Publishing Co. Ltd. )
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