While strolling through Paris, France, one may look up in awe at the beauty of the cathedral of Notre Dame but from above, multiple pairs of eyes mysteriously stare down at anyone below. The eyes belong to different beast and creatures that have sculpted society’s view of life. These stone structures are known as gargoyles.

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The 12<sup>th</sup> century was a time and place for impressive historical change in Europe (Snyder). Especially in France, a new period of time was emerging which is know as the Gothic Age. During the Gothic Age, Christianity and the church were being built unlike anything anyone had seen before.  Instead of solid Greek like temples for worship, the cathedrals were, “An engineer’s grandiose dream of thrust and counterthrust diagrammed in stone lines” (Snyder).  The gothic cathedral represented, “The ultimate achievement of those spiritual aspirations” (Snyder).  If there were such a thing as the essence of Gothic, it would be thought of as, “The architecture created in the Ile-de-France” (Snyder). One of France’s most notable cathedrals is the cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. Built between 1163-1250, Notre Dame marked a new beginning for Gothic architecture in France.

Surrounding the outer edges of the cathedral of Notre Dame are gargoyles, best known as the creatures that peer down over the city of Paris (Camille). Gargoyles became, “Very popular on architecture in medieval times…” (“Gargoyle History”). The word gargoyle comes from the Roman term of protruding gutter (Evans). They were built in order to drain the water from the roofs of the cathedrals. The gargoyles were placed to extend far off from the walls of the structures to prevent any damage from happening to the cathedrals themselves as the rain ran off  (“Gargoyle History”).  If the gargoyles did not exist to control the rain run-off, “the mortar between the stones of their buildings would, in time, erode away and the building would fall over” (Evans).  The gargoyles come in packs to distribute the flow of rainwater because, “A single gargoyle would not be much good in a ferocious storm” (Evans).  The gargoyles did serve the same purpose as the classical wooden drainpipe but society was changing and so was the architecture that followed. Today, tourists find the stone figures or gargoyles to be, “The most appealing element of the magnificent structure,” but in the Gothic age they were decorative gutters (Camille).
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-5.00.39-PM.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-581" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-5.00.39-PM.png" alt="" width="284" height="160" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center">http://www.eden-study.org/personal/images/notre-dame-gargoyles.jpg</p>
Gargoyles are imaginative forms of creatures that have little or no resemblance to anything real. Most of them consist of many animal-like features formed into one. The faces of the gargoyles are very extreme and intimidating as well. They almost look like they are yelling at the city down below (Evans). The gargoyles were considered to be, “Symbolic guardians against the external forces of evil” (Camille).  Though they are an opposition to the supernatural evil spirits, they are just as haunting to the society. The gargoyles in the 12<sup>th</sup> century were seen to, “Represent those who under estimated the power of the devil” (Evans).  In Valencia, Spain there is a notable gargoyle of a man with his genitals out. This image was to portray that the devil would catch you exactly when he wanted to. Since sex was seen as sinful during the middle ages, it was placed to scare people of anything non-religious and immoral (Evans).  This image implored ethical behavior.

<a title="Valencia, Spain Gargoyle" href="http://photos.travellerspoint.com/205903/naughty_gargoyle.jpg" target="_blank">http://photos.travellerspoint.com/205903/naughty_gargoyle.jpg</a>

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The average superstitious person from the middle ages would have found gargoyles like the one from Spain to be quite frightening. Architects of the gargoyles perhaps, “Knew that what people feared most of all was what lay within” (Evans).  The most disconcerting gargoyles do not seem beast like, but portray human qualities (Evans). They “Represent the evil inside human beings…” (Camille). The gargoyles are placed on monumental structures, staring down as a reminder of what humans fear most, themselves and the choices humans make.
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-4.57.34-PM.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-580" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-4.57.34-PM.png" alt="" width="293" height="201" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center">http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/F812E5B3-890E-447E-81DC-7DDA23C76A0C/AAGB001637.jpg</p>
During the 19<sup>th</sup> century the cathedral of Notre Dame went under reconstruction. Viollet-le-Duc restored the cathedral while adding 54 chimeras to the balustrade (the balcony). The chimeras were considered, “The modern (medieval) monsters” (Camille). They were similar to the gargoyles, only slightly larger and were not used as drainpipes. The chimeras were placed at Notre Dame in order to regain, “The spirit of the middle ages” (Camille).  The gargoyle-like chimeras were not a symbol of evil doing through out the society. They represented, “Political and social extremes, contemporary society rather than the Christological symbolism of the medieval bestiary” (Camille).  The fascinating thing about the chimeras though, is the slightest detail of their face or structure has meaning behind it. Large noses represented being a descendant of Jews who were then frowned upon for not being Christian.  A chimera that was built with their tongue sticking out of their mouth represented, “The tradition of grimacing” (Camille).  Though the meaning behind gargoyles and chimeras change constantly through time, their appeal to society stays the same.
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-4.50.44-PM.png"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-579" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-4.50.44-PM-300x199.png" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a></p>
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The gargoyles and chimeras through time have expressed historical values. The changes in beliefs reflected through the architecture. How people perceived the world is seen within the eyes of each haunting creature. Most of the gargoyles and chimeras today stand hardly unrecognizable due to the deteriorating of the stones. The stone figures are being harmed by slow death because of industrial pollution (Camille). The cities that once gave gargoyles life are now, “Also the gargoyles main agent of destruction” (Camille).  Restoration of the gargoyles and chimeras can be controversial but without it, a period of time could be lost forever (Camille). Some argue that restoring historical monuments makes them no longer of history, but that is not the case. Future generations would not have the chance to visit the places they hear/learn about and experience them in full effect if history could not be restored. With the gargoyles, people would be deprived of the feeling of fear, intimidation, or laughter of looking up to a beast or human like creature glaring at you from above.  The gargoyles and chimeras give character to monuments such as the cathedrals and should be restored in order to preserve a mystical time in history.

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<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Work Cited</strong></p>
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Camille, Michael. <em>The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame: Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity</em>. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2009. Print.

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Carr, Karen. "Medieval Religion - History for Kids!" <em>Kidipede - History for Kids - Homework Help for Middle School</em>. Web. 07 Mar. 2011.

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Evans, RJ. "Gargoyles – Glorious Gruesome Grotesques | Quazen." <em>Quazen | Arts, Autos and More</em>. 14 Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2011

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"Gargoyle History, Architectural, Religious and Mythical." <em>Feng Shui at Wind and Water with Annie Lane. Gargoyles and Gargoyle Photographs, and Various Others</em>. Web. 07 Mar. 2011

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Snyder, James. "Gothic Architecture." <em>Medieval Art: Painting-sculpture-architecture, 4-14th Century</em>. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1988. Print.

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