40 Gargoyles and Grotesques Around the World

[Kazimiera]

40 Gargoyles and Grotesques Around the World

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall. [Source]

A grotesque is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. Both gargoyles and grotesques are said to frighten off and protect those it guards from any evil or harmful spirits.

As an architectural sculpture I find gargoyles and grotesques fascinating. Whether ornamental or functional, their symbolism and ability to stir the emotions of those that gaze upon them is intriguing. Below you will find a collection of gargoyles and grotesques around the world.


1. Oakland Cemetery – Atlanta, Georgia




2. San Juan de los Reyes Monastery – Toledo, Spain




3. Natural History Museum – London, England




4. Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris, France




5. Cologne Cathedral – Cologne, Germany




6. Cathedral of Quito – Quito, Ecuador




7. Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya – Barcelona, Spain




8. Forbidden City – Beijing, China




9. Mont Saint-Michel – Normandy, France




10. Washington National Cathedral – Washington D.C., USA




11. St. Nicholas Church – Lüneburg, Germany




12. Peace Tower on Parliament Hill – Ottawa, Canada




13. Marble Church, Bodelwyddan – Clwyd, Wales




14. Cologne Cathedral – Cologne, Germany




15. Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris, France




16. Reims Cathedral – Reims, France




17. University of Washington – Seattle, Washington




18. University of Sydney – Sydney, Australia




19. Château d’Amboise – Amboise, France




20. Alcobaça Monastery – Alcobaça, Portugal




Source: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/04/gar...und-the-world/

[Kazimiera]

21. Washington National Cathedral – Washington D.C., USA




22. Princeton University – New Jersey, USA




23. Winchester Cathedral – Winchester, England




24. Biltmore Estate – North Carolina, USA




25. Nidaros Cathedral – Trondheim, Norway




26. Cathedral of Santa Eulalia – Barcelona, Spain




27. Palma Cathedral – Palam, Mallorca, Spain




28. Magdalen College – Oxford, England




29. Zagreb Cathedral – Zagreb, Croatia




30. Washington National Cathedral – Washington D.C., USA




31. Hospital de Sant Pau – Barcelona, Spain




32. Westminster Abbey – London, England




33. Château d’Amboise – Amboise, France




34. Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya – Barcelona, Spain




35. St Mary’s Cathedral – Edinburgh, Scotland




36. Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris, France




37. Notre Dame de l’Épine – Marne, France




38. Plummer Building – Rochester, Minnesota




39. Cheshire, England




40. Notre Dame Cathedral – Paris, France




Source: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/04/gar...und-the-world/

[Kazimiera]

[Aurora]

That last one is brutal.

[Kazimiera]

[Kazimiera]

Fascinating gargoyles and grotesques around the world

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/0...und-the-world/

The gargoyles and grotesques are fascinating architectural sculptures that can be found on many buildings. The difference between the gargoyle and grotesque is that the gargoyle is grotesque but it has an additional purpose, and the grotesque is used to decorate the exterior of the building.

The gargoyles are made to convey rainwater away from the sides of the buildings and most commonly are situated on the roofs.


Gargoyles on Notre Dame in Paris

The term “gargoyle” derives from the French word “gargouille” which means “a throat.” There is a through cut in the back of the gargoyles which determines how far the water will be thrown from the building’s wall. A grotesque or a chimera is a mythical figure that is used for decoration. For centuries, both, the grotesques and gargoyles were used as protective figures which chase away evil spirits. They are mostly guardians of churches and cathedrals.

The gargoyles and grotesques of Notre Dame


One of the famous grotesques at Notre Dame in Paris

The most famous examples of gargoyles are those on the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. They were in use until the 16th century, when drain pipes were installed in the building. Today, these magnificent statues are just ornamental. The best-known grotesques are those which peer over the town, at the top of the cathedral, situated in front of the most famous bell of the building.


The dragon-headed gargoyles from Estonia


Dragon-headed gargoyle of the Tallinn Town Hall, Estonia

In Estonia, the most amazing gargoyles can be seen on the main façade of the Tallinn Town Hall, the oldest surviving hall in Northern Europe.

There are two unique and identical dragon-headed gargoyles on the main façade which have a golden crown and large white teeth. They were designed and made by the coppersmith Daniel Pöppel.


The stone mason on the Bern Minster Cathedral


Gargoyle at Bern Minster, Switzerland

On the tallest cathedral in Switzerland, Bern Minster, there is a unique gargoyle which is a stone mason bent in despair, holding a hammer. It was designed by Erhart Kung and Burkhart Engelberg who decorated the whole façade of the building. This gargoyle can be seen on the front façade of the cathedral.


The gargoyles of the Milan cathedral


Gargoyle at the roof of Milan Cathedral

On one of the most famous complexes in the world, the Milan cathedral, there are 3, 400 statues, of which 135 are gargoyles.

These gargoyles are one of the most amazing stone statues that in 2012 were put up for adoption. Patrons were asked to adopt these unique statues because the Duomo management wanted to preserve them. The names of the donors who will help with 100, 000 euros or more, will be engraved under the gargoyles.


Il Boccalone, one of the scariest gargoyles of the Florence Cathedral


The “Il Boccalone” on the Florence Cathedral, Italy

One of the scariest and unique gargoyles is called “Il Boccalone” and can be seen on the façade of the Florence cathedral. The façade of the cathedral was designed by Emilio De Fabris in the Gothic Revival style in the 19th century. This statue is one of the most photographed gargoyles because of its creepy face. It is a human head with screaming expression, and it has the most ominous gaze.


The monk on the Chateau de Blain in France

Another creepy and unique gargoyle can be seen on the Chateau de Blain in France. It is a statue of a monk which sits in a cramped position on the façade, holding a bell in his arms.

The monk gargoyles were also made for protection, chasing away evil spirits. They were made like monks because people felt safe and they considered them as sacred.


The Monk gargoyle from the Château de Blain, France


The fantastic animal gargoyles on the tower of the Holy Cross Church in Great Ponton, England

In England, in the Great Ponton village, on the tower of the Holy Cross Church, there are gargoyles in fantastic animal shapes. Originally, the church was medieval, but in 1519 it was reconstructed by the wool merchant Anthony Ellys.

He added a tower which is richly decorated, and these fantastic animal gargoyles can be seen at the top, which is the most decorated part of the whole church.


Gargoyle on the tower of Holy Cross Church, Great Ponton, Lincolnshire, England


The gargoyles of Cologne Cathedral


Gargoyles at Cologne Cathedral, Germany

The Cologne Cathedral in Germany has over 125 gargoyles which are pretty originative.

A lot of different shapes of gargoyles can be seen on the cathedral such as animals, chimeras, and devils. The whole exterior of the building is dotted with these shapes which make it a little morbid.


The Darth Vader grotesque in the Washington National Cathedral


Darth Vader grotesque on the Washington National Cathedral

Sculpted by Jan Hall Carpenter and stone carved by Patrick J. Plunkett, the Darth Vader grotesque is one of the most famous statues which can be seen on the facade of the Washington National Cathedral.

If people wish to see this grotesque, they need binoculars because it is very small. It was made in the 1980s when the northwest tower of the Cathedral was constructed.


The most unusual grotesque is the astronaut carved on the New Cathedral in Salamanca, Spain


The astronaut grotesque

Among the many grotesques on the façade of The New Cathedral in Salamanca, Spain, there is one as the most unusual of them all.

It is a carving of an astronaut which was added to the cathedral when it was restored in 1992. The astronaut is there because one of the artisans who worked on the restoration decided to carve unusual and strange figures into the stone.

[Kazimiera]

Gargoyles ~ Grotesques

Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/gargoyles.html



Gargoyle



In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. Preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls is important because running water erodes the mortar between the stone blocks.

Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.

The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet"; cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, gargula ("gullet" or "throat") and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, "throat"; Spanish g‡rgola, "gargoyle"). It is also connected to the French verb gargariser, which means "to gargle." The Italian word for gargoyle is doccione o gronda sporgente, an architecturally precise phrase which means "protruding gutter." The German word for gargoyle is Wasserspeier, which means "water spewer." The Dutch word for gargoyle is waterspuwer, which means "water spitter" or "water vomiter." A building that has gargoyles on it is "gargoyled."

Gargoyles are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits.

A grotesque figure is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. These are also usually called gargoyles in layman's terminology, although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.


Chimera



Chimeras are creatures that are mixes of different types of animal body parts to create a new creature. Some of the more notable chimeras are griffins, centaurs, harpies, and mermaids. Chimeras often served as a warning to people who underestimated the devil.


Grotesques



Grotesques are often confused with gargoyles, but the distinction is that gargoyles are figures that contain a water spout through the mouth, while grotesques do not. This type of sculpture is also called a chimera. Used correctly, the term gargoyle refers to mostly eerie figures carved specifically as terminations to spouts which convey water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term babewyn was used to refer to both gargoyles and grotesques. This word is derived from the Italian word babuino, which means "baboon".


History of Gargoyles

The term gargoyle is most often applied to medieval work, but throughout all ages some means of water diversion, when not conveyed in gutters, was adopted.


Lion Gargoyle at Dendera

In Ancient Egyptian architecture, gargoyles showed little variation, typically in the form of a lion's head. Similar lion-mouthed water spouts were also seen on Greek temples, carved or modeled in the marble or terracotta cymatium of the cornice.



An excellent example of this are the 39 remaining lion-headed water spouts on the Temple of Zeus. There were originally 102 gargoyles or spouts, but due to the heavy weight (they were crafted from marble), many have snapped off and had to be replaced.



Many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles and chimeras. The most famous examples are those of Notre Dame de Paris. Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, or combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous.



Unusual animal mixtures, or chimeras, did not act as rain spouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve more as ornamentation, but are now synonymous with gargoyles.

Both ornamented and unornamented water spouts projecting from roofs at parapet level were a common device used to shed rainwater from buildings until the early eighteenth century. From that time, more and more buildings employed downpipes to carry the water from the guttering at roof level to the ground and only very few buildings using gargoyles were constructed.

In 1724, the London Building Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain made the use of downpipes compulsory on all new construction.


Gargoyles and the Church

Gargoyles were viewed two ways by the church throughout history. Often gargoyles were used to assist the Church in conveying messages to the common people. Due to literacy being uncommon, images were the best way to constantly convey ideas. Gargoyles were used as a representation of evil. It is thought that they were used to scare people into coming to church, reminding them that the end of days is near. It is also thought that their presence assured congregants that evil is kept outside of the churchÕs walls. However, some medieval clergy viewed gargoyles as a form of idolatry.

In the 12th century a church leader named St. Bernard of Clairvaux was famous for speaking out against gargoyles.

"What are these fantastic monsters doing in the cloisters before the eyes of the brothers as they read? What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, these strange savage lions, and monsters? To what purpose are here placed these creatures, half beast, half man, or these spotted tigers? I see several bodies with one head and several heads with one body. Here is a quadruped with a serpent's head, there a fish with a quadruped's head, then again an animal half horse, half goat... Surely if we do not blush for such absurdities, we should at least regret what we have spent on them."


Animal Gargoyles

The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans all used animal-shaped waterspouts. During the 12th century, when gargoyles appeared in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church was growing stronger and converting many new people. Most of the population at this time were illiterate, and therefore images were very important to convey ideas. In the medieval world many creatures had mystical powers attributed to them. Also, human qualities were sometimes ascribed to specific animals - that is, the animals were anthropormorphized. This was especially common for pagans, and using these ideas helped conversion to Catholicism. Some animals (such as the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus) were unknown in western Europe during the Middle Ages so gargoyles of these species (such as the ones at Laon Cathedral) are modern gargoyles and therefore did not have symbolic meaning in Medieval times. Below is a list of some animals commonly used as gargoyles, and some of the meanings behind them.

Lion


Gargoyle in form of a lion Cathedral Saint-Etienne de Meaux.

Lions were the most common non-native animal crafted as a gargoyle in the medieval period. In ancient times, the lion was linked to the sun, most likely due to its golden mane bearing similarity to the solar wreath of the sun. Lion gargoyles were popular with the ancient Greeks and were frequently used on houses in Pompeii during Roman times. During the medieval period lions became the symbol of pride, one of the 7 deadly sins. Cats other than lions were rare among gargoyle carvings because of their dark nature and association with Satanism and Witchcraft.

Both lions and their female counterparts were a favorite choice for the makers of gargoyles. The lion was by far the most popular non-European animal to be used on churches and cathedrals in the middle ages. They were popular as gargoyles during older times (Pompeii is full of them) and they had symbolized the sun, with the golden mane representing the solar wreath of our life giving star.


Dog



Dogs were the most common native animal crafted as a gargoyle. Dogs were seen as faithful, loyal, and intelligent, making them excellent guardians. They were, however, not without their faults. Their well-known hunger and tendency to steal food from kitchens showed that even dogs were vulnerable to the Devil's temptation.

This gargoyle above is found at the top of the Philippe le Bel tower in the ducal palace of Dijon again in France. As popular then as they are now, dogs were rarely kept simply as pets and were often given guardianship of a home at night. As such they were seen as clever, loyal and faithful. So on one point they can be seen as those stone animals given the role of protecting these buildings but there was another reason for their presence too. Dogs are always hungry and were often common thieves during these times and so were included on the sides of cathedrals to show that even such a faithful animal as the dog can fall prey to the temptation of the devil and commit the sin of greed.


Wolf



Although the wolf was a feared creature in medieval times, it was also respected. Wolves have the ability to live and cooperate as a pack which gave rise to the metaphor that a wolf could be a leader of a pack and protect the members. This was linked to priests who would fight off the evil of the Devil for the common folk. The wolf was also linked to the deadly sin of greed.

Returning to Paris and this time the SacrŽ-Coeur, here is a fine example of the wolf as gargoyle. Although wolves too were linked to greed they were respected as an animal that lived through cooperation with its peers Ð and they gave rise to the ancient metaphor Ôthe leader of the packÕ. They were also linked to priests whose responsibility it was to protect the people from the devil Ð so the wolf was the protector of the lamb of God, as it were. Gargoyles come in packs too Ð and this was because the architects needed to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof. A single gargoyle would not be much good in a ferocious storm. Their strange elongation is also deliberate as the extra length will ensure that the water cascades as far away from the wall as possible.


Eagle


Large eagle as gargoyle on the Saint Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium

A powerful bird who was said to be able to slay dragons. Eagles were respected for their ability to see far away objects, and were also said to renew themselves by looking into the sun (accounting for the glint always seen in the eagleÕs eye in paintings).

These were protectors of the buildings, particularly against dragon as it was said that they were one of the few animals capable of destroying a winged serpent. They were also highly respected for the vision (which was again used as a metaphor and seen as foresight) and legend had it they had Phoenix like qualities. They were, it was said, able to heal themselves by looking directly in to the sun which itself is an ancient symbol of deity.


Snake


Krakow, Poland

From the story of Adam and Eve, the serpent represents a struggle between good and evil. The serpent was related to the deadly sin envy. They were also thought to be immortal due to the shedding of their skin. This gave rise to the symbol for immortality being the Ouroboros, a serpent with a tail in its mouth.

The serpent is associated with original sin and as such can be found (most often winged) all over the cathedrals of Europe. From the days of Adam and Eve the serpent has been the symbol for the continual struggle between good and evil. In terms of the seven deadly sins, the serpent represented envy. Scarily enough they were also thought to be immortal which meant that the daily struggle against the sins of the flesh would carry on for all eternity.


Goat


Barcelona Cathedral

he goat had two viewpoints in medieval times. One perspective was that the goat was equated with Christ due to its ability to climb steep slopes and find edible food. On the other side it was seen as a symbol for lust and even linked to Satan.

Like many of the animals featured here it had a duality of nature in the eyes of medieval Christians. On one side they were thought to be Christ-like because of their ability to find food on steep mountainsides and nourish themselves from almost nothing (the Feeding of the Five Thousand springs immediately to mind as a parallel). On the other hand they were seen as quite venal creatures and were often seen as a symbol of lust Ð yet another one of those seven deadly sins. Plus, of course, which animal would you associate with Satan?


Monkey



Monkeys were seen as what happened to humans when nature went awry. They were thought to be stupid creatures, and their intelligence was misrepresented as cunning. The monkey was linked to the deadly sin of ÔslothÕ.


19th and 20th Centuries

Although not designed to drain water and therefore technically not gargoyles, the grotesques on modern structures are still considered by most people to be gargoyles. Grotesques were used as decoration on 19th- and early 20th-century buildings in cities such as New York (where the Chrysler Building's stainless steel gargoyles are celebrated), Minneapolis, and Chicago. Gargoyles can be found on many churches and other buildings.

One extensive collection of modern gargoyles can be found in Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. The cathedral, begun in 1908, is encrusted with the limestone demons. This collection also includes Darth Vader, a crooked politician, robots and many other modern spins on the ancient tradition.

The 20th Century collegiate form of the Gothic Revival produced many modern gargoyles, notably at Princeton University, Washington University in St. Louis, Duke University, and the University of Chicago.

[Kazimiera]

Pop Culture Gargoyles Hidden in Gothic Architecture

Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...c-architecture


Alien at Chapelle de Bethlehem

Fascinating ghouls of another era, gargoyles emerged around the 13th century in European architecture with a vast array of form and function. At first, they were designed as an indispensable engineering trick. Projected from roofs at parapet level, the strange leaning creatures created a siphon for rainwater to protect the walls of the edifice. They evolved to become “grotesques, ” ornamental elements with a specific symbolic charge. With their demonic grins and anthropomorphic shapes, gargoyles and grotesques were used to visually exemplify the concept of evil and virtue at a time when a large part of the population was illiterate. Beyond their moral function, gargoyles also had an “apotropaic” value: their grimacing faces were believed to avert the evil eye and keep it from the sacred space.


Notre Dame de Dijon.

Gothic architecture was later revived in the 18th and 19th century in England and the United States. Naturally, gargoyles became one of the stylish signatures of this new Neo Gothic architectural type. But centuries of capricious weather and a lack of care had disfigured the legions of statues that were still silently guarding the old gothic monuments. A large amount of stunning chimeras were actually falling to the ground like a plague rainfall. In order to remedy to this situation, conservation programs were started for some of them, and 20th and 21st century stone carvers were asked to replace as many destroyed gargoyles as possible. If some of them copied meticulously the medieval form of the past, others had another vision of what gargoyles could be.


Darth Vader, now on the National Cathedral.

Many of these examples are unfortunately high on the façades out of sight, but a pair of binoculars might help you out. In the 1980s, Washington National Cathedral became one of the first to experiment with of gargoyle reinterpretation. Some of you might have heard the story of the most famous one: the Darth Vader gargoyle, who was the winning proposal in a children’s contest organized by National Geographic. Christopher Rader, a 13-year-old kid from Nebraska, created its design, envisioning the Star Wars villain as a modern incarnation of supreme evil. Sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter and carved by Patrick J. Plunkett, our dark-sided Anakin is today on the Washington Cathedral, wearing his iconic helmet on the first tiny peaked roof from the center pinnacle, on the right hand side.


Carving the Crooked Politician at the National Cathedral.

If you’re curious enough for a gargoyle safari, stay around the edifice! You will not be disappointed, as Darth Vader is just one of many pretty unusual creations conceived to adorn the National Cathedral. The 112 sculpted gargoyles include those by Walter S. Arnold, who envisioned gargoyles as portraying the specific hopes and fears of their era. Arnold’s sculptures have name like “The Crooked Politician,” “The Fly holding Raid Spray,” or the “High Tech Pair,” representing a stylized robot and surveillance camera.


Robot, now on the National Cathedral.


Pacifist, now on the National Cathedral.


The Astronaut at Catedral de Salamanca.

As representations of our contemporary life, it’s now not uncommon practice for stone carvers to integrate, here and there, images of our present. The mysterious astronaut, tangled in floral motifs, is not a visionary medieval anticipation of our space travels, as one rumor said. It was created on the façade of the Salamanca Cathedral in Spain in 1992, during a renovation.

Another story of delightfully iconoclast restoration took place in France, a few miles away from Nantes, in one of the major historic cities of Brittany. In 1993, in Saint Jean-Boisseau, the late Middle Ages chapel of Bethlehem was subject to a renovation. Since almost none of its pinnacles had survived, a decision was made to replace them one by one, while keeping the traditional symbolism attached to each of them. With this in mind, stone carver Jean-Louis Boistel, proposed to restore the traditional archetypes with more modern ones, directly drawn from pop culture.


Grendizer at Chapelle de Bethlehem.

Thereby, the anime robot Grendizer became the image of a modern knight’s righteousness, Gizmo the standard for our “good” inner self, while his alter egos the Gremlins, for the bad. However, Boistel’s boldest choice may be the representation of the “Leviathan,” a figure of the uttermost chaos, represented by a Giger-inspired Alien. Boistel’s “geek chapel” wasn’t initially popular with the villagers, but the local enthusiastic youth helped make it a reality.


Gizmo at Chapelle de Bethlehem.


Gremlin at Chapelle de Bethlehem.

Just as Catholic sacred architecture used to be like a historical picture book, describing Middle Ages ways of life, so is adding a modern motif of modern monsters like the “ear mouse” grotesque of Saint George’s Chapel (inspired by Dr. Charles Vacanti’s experiments) reactivating the traditional function of Gothic Architecture.


Charles Vacanti’s Earmouse, now on St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Talking about polemics, our last example probably spilled more ink than rainwater, and occurred a couple of years ago in the French city of Lyon. The Cathedrale Saint Jean, already in the Atlas for its incredible Astronomical Clock, now has another wonder. During the renovation of the cathedral, stonemason Emmanuel Fourchet created a gargoyle figure after his construction manager, Ahmed Benzizine, as a token of their friendship and appreciation for his dedicated work. Ahmed is a veteran in historical renovation and has spent more than 30 years of his life restoring religious structures in France. He’s also a Muslim.

Conservative groups furiously criticized the act, calling it blasphemy. While the Archbishop saluted this gesture as an meaningful act, he also underlined the fact that the extreme reaction was due to a lack of understanding of the history and culture concerning the sculpted art of the cathedral itself. The Church Rector Chanoine Michel Cacaud reminded the public that the elements adorning the outside of the cathedral are meant to represent the profane world in its complexity. And now they can reflect those same complexities of our contemporary world.