What is a memory palace?
A memory palace is a way to remember a list by placing each item, as a vivid image, at a spot along a route you know. To recall the list, you walk the route in your mind and pick the items up again, in order.
The technique is also called the method of loci, from the Latin word for places, and many people know it as a mind palace. It is one of the oldest memory techniques we know of, and it is still the main tool of people who compete in memory championships.
How to use this generator
- 1.Type up to 20 things you want to remember, one per line, or pick an example.
- 2.Press the button. Each item lands at one place on a fixed route: from the front gate, through the hall and the library, down to the wine cellar, out into the garden and up to the dome.
- 3.Read each scene slowly and picture it. The stranger, bigger and more alive you make it, the better.
- 4.Choose Walk through to go one place at a time, then Test yourself: you see the place, you recall what was there, and you check.
- 5.Print the route or copy the link to come back to it. The link holds your list, so nothing is stored on our side.
Why it works
Most people find it far easier to remember places and pictures than a bare list of words. A memory palace uses that: it turns each word into a picture and gives each picture an address.
The route does the rest. Because the places always come in the same order, the list comes back in the same order too, and you notice at once when a place is empty.
Where it comes from
The classic story, told by Cicero, is about the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos. He left a banquet hall moments before the roof collapsed, and he could name the victims by remembering where each guest had been sitting.
Greek and Roman orators used the same idea to deliver long speeches without notes, walking through the rooms of a building in their minds.
Tips for a palace that holds
- Use a place you know well. This generator gives you a ready-made villa, but your own home, your street or your route to work will hold even better. Keep the same order every time.
- Make the images impossible: huge, moving, noisy, funny or a little absurd. Ordinary pictures fade, odd ones stay.
- Use more than sight. Imagine the smell, the sound, the weight, the temperature.
- One item per place. If a list is longer than 20, build a second palace or add rooms.
- Walk the route again later: once after an hour, once the next day, and once a few days after that.
Questions people ask
What is a memory palace generator?
It is a tool that builds a memory palace for you. You type a list, and it places each item at a spot on a fixed route through a building, with a vivid scene for each one, so you only have to picture the scenes and walk the route.
Is it free, and do I need an account?
It is free and you do not need an account. You can use it as often as you like.
Is my list sent or saved anywhere?
No. The palace is built in your own browser. If you copy the link, your list is written after the # sign in the address, and browsers do not send that part to a server. Close the page without copying the link and the list is gone.
How many things can I memorise with it?
Up to 20 per palace, one per place. For a longer list, split it in two and build a second palace, or extend the route with the rooms of your own home.
Should I use my own house instead?
If you can, yes. A place you know by heart works best, and the generator is a good way to learn the method first. The trick is the same: a fixed order of places and a vivid picture at each one.
Does the method of loci really work?
It is one of the oldest memory techniques on record, described by Roman writers on public speaking, and memory athletes still rely on it. Like any technique it takes a little practice, and it works best when your pictures are vivid and you walk the route again after a while.
Can I print my memory palace?
Yes. Press Print and you get the full route on paper: every place, the item that lives there and its scene.
Is this the same as The Memory Palace app?
No. This page is a free tool for memorising lists. The Memory Palace is an app for families, where photos and stories are kept in rooms of a palace you can walk through. The idea of a place for each memory is the same.
The same idea, for the people you love: The Memory Palace keeps your family's photos and stories in rooms you can walk through. Free to start.
Visit The Memory PalaceGet the app