Gargoyle
Left side from below
2009-06-16
Name/Title
GargoyleEntry/Object ID
95M0858Description
A crouching gargoyle with large nose, protruding eyes and large eyebrows, ears to side with scales running down either side of body and large clawed feet.Context
The original is in situ on the West facade of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. According to legend, the gargoyles had been chased from the interior of the Cathedral by the Virgin Mary, who kept them as guardians. Unfortunately, most of the gargoyles now on the Cathedral are the restorations of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879, a prominent French architect who specialized in the restoration of Gothic buildings), the originals having gradually weathered away. Our replica is, however, a copy of one of the few remaining originals on the Cathedral. Gargoyles are not found on architecture until the Gothic period. Originally, they were spouts which allowed water to escape from the roof gutters and clear the walls. They were named from the French word 'gargouiller' (to gurgle), which approximated the sound made by the water gushing through these spouts. In the 14th and 15th centuries AD, gargoyles were also used purely as decoration, and in the 16th century, with the introduction of lead drain-pipes, they became functionally obsolete.Made/Created
Date made
1200 CE - 1300 CETime Period
MedievalEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Medieval Europe