Gargoyles




"He takes me to the window, small, dirty, crisscrossed with old chicken-wire, and points across the street to something which seems to be a monster being not born of a living creature but of a building. Seeing this obscene thing is a shock; what is worse is seeing the people passing to and fro beneath it, intent on either plotting their day's business or planning their evening's pleasure; they pass to and fro and do not look up.
None of them look up.
I hear him say it again: We don't see them...but they see us."


~Stephen King~







The word "Gargoyle" shares a root with the word "Gargle"; they come from "gargouille", an old French word for "Throat". A true gargoyle is a waterspout. An unusual carved creature that does not serve that purpose is properly called a "Grotesque".

Many cultures throughout history have created sculptures of fantastic creatures. These gargoyles and grotesques stir our imaginations, as they stirred the imaginations of the sculptors and carvers who created them. We try to understand them, to explain them. The most common belief is that they are protectors, keeping evil away from the buildings and their occupants. Next time you walk down the street and spot a Gargoyle on a roof top, be watchful - he may think you to be evil!










The gargoyle often makes his perch on a cathedral or a church Where, mid eclesiastic style he smiles an early Gothic smile.
~Oliver Herford~



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