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Gargoyles vs. Grotesques

In terms of public recognition, gargoyles outstrip grotesques, even though grotesques far outnumber gargoyles. Why is this? And what the heck is a grotesque, anyway?

Grotesque at Bass Mansion in Fort Wayne
A grotesque at Fort Wayne's Bass Mansion.

First of all, it’s a fun word to say. Gar – goyle. It sounds a little creepy, in keeping with the looks of the creatures it names. Gargoyles are half man/half beast, or half animal/half flower, or half animal/half dragon (you get the idea) figures carved in stone and found high up on corners and rooflines of Gothic buildings. They first showed up on medieval European cathedrals in the twelfth century.

True gargoyles are rarities, especially in the U.S. Here’s the important distinction: whatever fantastical shape they take, gargoyles are not mere decoration. They perform a function, taking rainwater and snow melt and spouting it away so it doesn’t run down the face of a building, eroding walls and foundations. If it doesn’t spout water — or gargle — it isn’t a gargoyle, it’s a grotesque.

Gargoyle on Alumni Hall Notre Dame

A handsome lionesque gargoyle perches atop Alumni Hall at Notre Dame in South Bend.

In Indiana, you can spy gargoyles on Alumni Hall at the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame in Paris claims perhaps the most famous gargoyles in the world, some replicated as shelf sitters and bookends in a twentieth-century gargoyle craze.

Grotesques, far more numerous than their functional cousins, show up in a host of shapes and sizes and places. Architecturally speaking, grotesques are sculptures of imaginary creatures. Very cool carved limestone grotesques crawl all over the exterior of the Bass Mansion at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne.

Grotesque at Bass Mansion in Fort Wayne

One of several delightfully creepy-looking grotesques at the Bass Mansion in Fort Wayne.

So while gargoyles are always grotesque, grotesques fail the functional test that identifies gargoyles. Got it?

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