A gargoyle is a carved, often grotesque or monstrous figure on Gothic buildings that serves as a water spout. The gargoyle combines practical drainage with richly worked sculpture and is one of the most recognisable decorative elements of medieval architecture.
The sculptural figure
Where the pure drainage element is called a gargouille, gargoyle refers to the carved form that gives its body shape. Sculptors gave these water spouts the appearance of fantastical creatures: dragons, demons, hybrid animals, lion heads, or human caricatures. The rainwater leaves through the mouth of the figure, which gives the creatures a dramatic, lively appearance during a downpour.
This wealth of forms also had a craft reason: each gargoyle was carved individually from natural stone, allowing stonemasons to show their skill and imagination.
Symbolism and art-historical context
Symbolic meaning was often attributed to the Gothic gargoyle. The most common interpretation is that the monstrous figures were meant to ward off evil and keep malevolent spirits at bay, acting as guardians of the consecrated building. At the same time, they could remind the faithful of the struggle between good and evil.
In art-historical terms, the gargoyle reached its height in the Gothic period from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, with Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris as a famous example. In the nineteenth century the motif gained a second life during the Gothic Revival, when many well-known “medieval” gargoyles were in fact only added then.
Application
Today gargoyles appear mainly as historic and decorative elements. When monumental buildings are restored, they are precisely recreated, and in modern architecture or garden design replicas are placed as ornaments. Purely functional drainage is now handled by downpipes, while the gargoyle continues to fascinate as a sculpture.
Related terms
- Gargouille
- Facade
- Gutter
- Sculpture
- Natural stone
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