Janitor spends seven years designing intricate maze

People are now scrambling to purchase copies of the complex maze

A picture of the maze

Photos have resurfaced of an incredibly complex maze designed by a university janitor, who spent seven years drawing it by hand in his spare time.

Thirty years after he designed the labyrinth, his daughter published pictures of the intricate design on Twitter, which quickly went viral as users demanded to know more about the man who had produced such a complicated maze.

The girl stumbled across it while sorting through his old belongings. Her father had spent seven years creating a map of the maze in his spare time on A1 size paper, measuring 33 x 23 inches, before rolling up his final creation and seemingly forgetting about it.

Despite all of the interest, no other details have been released about her father, known only as K. Nomura.

The girl, who has asked to remain unnamed, was said to have been inundated with requests for copies of the map. Responding to questions about her father, she said: “Where does my father work? At a public university!! In the athletic department!!! As a janitor.”

Copies of the maze are now for sale for $40 (£24.50) although there is currently a three to four-week delivery waiting time because of a back log of orders.

A picture of the maze posted on Twitter by the janitor's daughter (spoon-tamago.com)

The Cretan labyrinth is believed to be the oldest known maze in literature, with the Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete Knossos supposed as the location for it.

The first recorded maze is understood to be the Egyptian Labyrinth. Herodotus, a Greek traveller and writer, visited the Egyptian Labyrinth in the 5BC.