gargoyle

A gargoyle adorning Dornoch Cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland

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

The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet";^[1] cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, "throat"; Spanish gárgola, "gargoyle").

A chimera, or 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,^[1] although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.

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

History

A 1st century BC Hellenistic gargoyle representing a comical cook-slave from Ai Khanoum, Afghanistan

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 Egypt, gargoyles ejected the water used in the washing of the sacred vessels which seems to have been done on the flat roofs of the temples. In Greek temples, the water from roofs passed through the mouths of lions whose heads were carved or modeled in the marble or terracotta cymatium of the cornice.

A local legend that sprang up around the name of St. Romanus ("Romain") (AD 631–641), 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, having the creature captured by the only volunteer, a condemned man. The gargoyle's grotesque form was said to scare off evil spirits so they were used for protection. In commemoration of St. Romain the Archbishops of Rouen were granted the right to set a prisoner free on the day that the reliquary of the saint was carried in procession (see details at Rouen).

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 rainspouts 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.^[2]

19th and 20th centuries

A view of Paris from the Galerie des Chimères on Notre Dame de Paris

Monsters, or more precisely chimeras, 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), and Chicago. Gargoyles can be found on many churches and buildings.

One extensive collection of modern gargoyles can be found at 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.

In India Gargoyles in the local form of "Yali"s are found. Eg. in the Airavateshwara temple (12th Century) at Darasuram, Tamilnadu.

In popular culture

Gargoyle in Paris

In contemporary fiction, gargoyles are typically depicted as a (generally) winged humanoid race with demonic features: generally horns, a tail, and talons. They are said to be guardians of the building on which they reside. These fictional gargoyles can generally use their wings to fly or glide, and are often depicted as having a rocky hide, or being capable of turning into stone in one way or another.^{[citation needed]}

In 1972, the movie ABC Movie of the Week aired Gargoyles The film featured impressive gargoyle designs and creations courtesy of future SFX makeup great Stan Winston.

Other TV movies Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness and Reign of the Gargoyles feature attacks by living gargoyles and a giant gargoyle as their leader.

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame features three gargoyles as comic companions to Quasimodo. They are named Hugo, Victor and Laverne and are voiced by Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, and Mary Wickes respectively. The names of two of them, Victor and Hugo, are a reference to Victor Hugo, the author of the original novel.

Gargoyles, the animated series featured gargoyles as main characters who worked in conjunction with a select group of humans to protect their roost (a Scottish Castle transported to America), fight crime, and explore mysteries of the world (current and mythical).

The "Gargoyle Legends" book series features humans who are capable of shapeshifting into gargoyles. The main characters inherited their abilities and use their powers to hunt down rogue gargoyles who obtained their powers through human sacrifices.

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), the segment "Lover's Vow" features a struggling artist who encounters a living gargoyle in an alley.

Andrew Davidson's novel The Gargoyle (Doubleday, 2008) is about the 700-year romance between a badly burned pornographer and a famous gargoyle sculptor.

In the episode "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" of the animated series Futurama a gargoyle by the name of Pazuzu is kept by Professor Farnsworth as a pet. In the end it's revealed that the whole episode was a story told by Pazuzu to this little son about how he gained his freedom.

See also

• Hunky Punk
• Sheela na Gig
• Architectural sculpture
• Rainhead
• Gargoyle Gecko
• Snow crash
• Golem

Photo gallery

Chimera of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel in Flagstaff, Arizona.	View of a gargoyle on the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France.	A gargoyle on the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, Paris, France, showing the water channel.	A Japanese gargoyle adorning Himeji Castle.
Gargoyle at the St.-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Ostend, Belgium.	Gargoyle at St Margaret's Church, Wolstanton, England.	Gargoyle Notre-Dame d'Amiens, France.	Notre Dame Church in Dijon, France.

References

• Guide to Gargoyles and Other Grotesques (2003) Wendy True Gasch, ISBN 0-9745299-0-7
• The Stone Carvers: Master Craftsmen of the Washington National Cathedral (1999) Marjorie Hunt, ISBN 1-56098-829-0 & 978-1-58834-247-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gargoyles

 "Gargoyle". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.