Rene McCaffery, age 13, of Glendale, Ariz., for her question:

WHAT IS A LABYRINTH?

A labyrinth is a building made up of intricate, mazelike chambers or passages so designed that a person entering one would find it difficult to find a way out.

The term "labyrinth" is also applied to mazelike patterns on the floors of some medieval churches intended perhaps to symbolize the tortuous journey of Christian pilgrims toward salvation. Garden mazes walled by clipped hedges are also called labyrinths, as for example that at Hampton Court, London, planted in the 17th century and still in existence.

Perhaps the most celebrated of the many labyrinths in the ancient world was a funeral temple built by Amenemhet III in Egypt, which contained 3,00 chambers.

Equally famous was the labyrinth of Crete, which may have existed only in myth. Its conception was possibly derived from the elaborate floor plan otf the palace at Knossos. In Greek mythology, the Cretan labyrinth was constructed as a prison for the Minotaur, a part bull, part man monster.