I walk in a neighborhood not far from mine, and there on top of a mailbox is a gargoyle. If you can see the foliage in the background of the photo, it completely obscures the front of the house. These homeowners are people who do not believe in putting their best foot forward. They do not want you to see the front of their home, but the item they want everyone to see on top of their mailbox is a gargoyle. Even normal gargoyles are not front and center on display. They are usually on the tops or corners of buildings. At least this particular gargoyle is not too scary; it has a rather sad expression. I know there are many different types of gargoyles on ancient buildings. It has always been a mystery to me why they were put there in the first place. Let’s find out more about them.
According to Wikipedia, in architecture — and specifically in Gothic architecture — a gargoyle is a carved or formed grotesque 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 a building 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 fantastical animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is directed from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.
Etymology
The term originates from the French gargouille, which in English is likely to mean "throat" or is otherwise known as the "gullet" and similar words derived from the root gar "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water. It is also connected to the French verb gargariser, which shares a Latin root with the verb "gargle" and is likely imitative in origin. The Italian word for gargoyle is doccione or gronda sporgente, an architecturally precise phrase which means "protruding gutter." Italian also uses gargolla or garguglia when it has a grotesque shape.
When not constructed as a waterspout and only serving an ornamental or artistic function, the correct term for such a sculpture is a grotesque, chimera or boss. A grotesque or chimera is a fantastic or mythical figure used for decorative purposes. In architecture, a boss is a knob or protrusion of stone or wood. There are also regional variations, such as the hunky punk — Somerset, England dialect for grotesque carvings on the side of buildings, especially Late Gothic churches. Just as with bosses and chimeras, gargoyles are said to protect what they guard — such as a church — from any evil or harmful spirits.
Legend of the Gargouille A French legend that sprang up around the name of St. Romanus c. 631–641 AD, the former chancellor of the Merovingian king Clotaire II who was made bishop of Rouen, relates how he delivered the country around Rouen from a monster called Gargouille or Goji. La Gargouille is said to have been the typical dragon with bat-like wings, a long neck and the ability to breathe fire from its mouth. Multiple versions of the story are given, either that St. Romanus subdued the creature with a crucifix, or he captured the creature with the help of the only volunteer, a condemned man. In each, the monster is led back to Rouen and burned, but its head and neck would not burn due to being tempered by its own fire breath. The head was then mounted on the walls of the newly built church to scare off evil spirits and used for protection. In commemoration of St. Romanus, the archbishops of Rouen were granted the right to set a prisoner free on the day that the reliquary or container for relics of the saint was carried in procession.
History 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. 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 uppermost molding at the top of the cornice. Excellent examples are the 39 remaining lion-headed water spouts on the Temple of Zeus. Originally, it had 102 gargoyles or spouts, but due to the heavy weight — they were crafted from marble — many snapped off and had to be replaced.
According to Jeff Wells Oct. 31, 2016 article “10 Fearsome Facts About Gargoyles” at mentalfloss.com, the oldest gargoyle-like creation is a 13,000-year-old stone crocodile discovered in Turkey.
According to Wikipedia, many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles and chimeras. According to French architect and author Eugène Viollet-le-Duc — himself one of the great producers of gargoyles in the 19th century — the earliest known medieval gargoyles appear on Laon Cathedral, c. 1200–1220. One of the more famous examples is the gargoyles 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 rainspouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve as ornamentation but are now popularly called gargoyles. Both ornamented and unornamented waterspouts projecting from roofs at parapet level were a common device used to shed rainwater from buildings until the early 18th century. From that time, more and more buildings used drainpipes to carry the water from the guttering roof to the ground, and only very few buildings using gargoyles were constructed. This was because some people found them frightening, and sometimes heavy ones fell off, causing damage. In 1724, the London Building Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain made the use of downpipes compulsory in all new construction.
According to Jeff Wells Oct. 31, 2016 article “10 Fearsome Facts About Gargoyles” at mentalfloss.com, the world’s most famous gargoyles, and the ones that most influenced the popular wings-and-horns image of the creatures, are found on Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral. Although the cathedral was constructed in the 13th century, the gargoyles were part of an extensive restoration project in the mid-1800s. Conceived by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and sculptor Victor Pyanet, the gargoyles have little in common with medieval gargoyles, scholars contend, and were intended to represent the time period rather than recreate it.
Catholic Church According to Wikipedia, the primary use of the gargoyle was to illustrate evil through the form of the gargoyle, while another theory posits that grotesques in architecture were apotropaic — a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences — devices. Sometimes the use of the gargoyles illustrated pagan beliefs to reflect the unique cultural history of the community the cathedral is part of. In the 12th century, before the use of gargoyles as rain spouts, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was famous for speaking out against gargoyles carved on the walls of his monastery's cloister: 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. Writing in “Gargoylaes, Chimeres and the Grotesque in French Gothic Sculpture,” Lester Burbank Bridaham said, "There is much symbolism in the sculpture of the Gothic period; but we must be wary of reading in too much meaning."
Animal 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 was illiterate, so images were very important to convey ideas. Many early gargoyles depicted some version of a dragon, especially in France. In addition to serving as spouts for water, the gaping mouths of these gargoyles evoked the fearsome destructiveness of these legendary beasts — reminding the laity of the need for the church's protection. Human qualities were sometimes ascribed to specific animals — that is, the animals were anthropomorphized. 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.
Pittsburgh's Downtown Dragons
According to Jeff Wells Oct. 31, 2016 article “10 Fearsome Facts About Gargoyles” at mentalfloss.com, in the 19th century, the Steel City embraced the Gothic architecture revival that swept across America. Many of its Gothic churches, government buildings and other edifices remain, along with their iconic gargoyles. All told, Pittsburgh features more than 20 authentic gargoyles and hundreds of grotesques. Many of them are featured in the city's "Downtown Dragons" tour run by the History and Landmarks Foundation.
Gargoyles modeled after builders and church elders Cologne Cathedral in Germany features a gargoyle fashioned after the church’s longest-serving council member, while at the Cathedrale Saint Jean in Lyon, France you can see a gargoyle modeled after the building’s renovation construction manager, Ahmed Benzizine. Because nothing says "thank you" like a hideous stone creature carved in your likeness.
French cathedral swapped its gargoyles for “Gremlins” During the restoration of Chapel of Bethlehem back in the early '90s, sculptor Jean-Louis Boistel decided to replace the building’s crumbling gargoyles with a few pop culture icons. This included Gizmo and a gremlin from the movie “Gremlins,” an “Alien” xenomorph and a robot from the popular anime “UFO Robot Grendizer.” Many locals were put off by Boistel’s creations — which are technically grotesques — but enough young movie fans got behind the "geek chapel" idea to get it approved.
Darth Vader gargoyle in Washington, D.C. Back in the '80s, the Washington National Cathedral held a contest for kids to design its newest gargoyle. Coming on the heels of the “Star Wars” trilogy, of course someone proposed a Darth Vader gargoyle. The cathedral — which had already installed some off-the-wall gargoyles and grotesques during its extensive restoration work — named 13-year-old Christopher Rader's design as one of its winners, and in 1986 put Lord Vader high up on the cathedral’s "dark side" north wall. It can be difficult to spot, but the cathedral offers a handy guide.
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