St German’s Cathedral in Peel opened its new labyrinth at the weekend.

A replica of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, the feature is the latest development in an ongoing multimillion-pound campaign to modernise and develop the historic building and its grounds.

In a ceremony attended by invited guests and the public, chairman of the campaign John Morphet officially opened the labyrinth.

A Cathedral Isle of Man spokesman said: ’The labyrinth, unlike a maze, has only one path so there are no tricks to it and no dead ends.

’The path winds throughout and becomes a mirror for where we are in our life journey.

’The labyrinth has an important history in the Christian church and was sometimes found in Gothic cathedrals, but over time, many were destroyed.

’The most famous remaining labyrinth is at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, which is 42 metres in diameter.

’The cathedral labyrinth which happens to just fit into the footprint of Rushen Abbey’s cloister - represented by the apple tunnel around the labyrinth - is a full scale replica, of the one at Chartres.’

Funded by anonymous donors, the stone was cut in Bali by master mason Ongky Wijana, who has created other works in the cathedral gardens, as well as the miner statue in Laxey.

The Manx version differs from the one at Chartres in that, apart from the names on the foundations stones, it carries the names of the eight monasteries that had land in the Isle of Man in the 13th century, namely Rushen Abbey, Douglas Priory, Rievaulx Abbey Yorkshire, Whithorn Priory Galloway, Furness Abbey Cumbria, Bangor Abbey Ulster, Sabal Abbey Ulster, St Bees Priory Cumbria.

After being imported from Bali, the labyrinth was laid by Chris Stokes and his father Kenny Stokes from Stokes Construction Limited.

Dean Nigel Godfrey said: ’There has been much research done on the health benefits of walking the labyrinth. We hope that agreat variety of people will take the opportunity to walk the labyrinth and also feel the spiritual benefits of a slow meditative walk, reflecting on their life.’

Cathedral Isle of Man thanked the Manx Lottery Trust, which provided a grant of £35,000 in late 2014 to enable the landscaping of the cathedral grounds.