BA2 Research into Gargoyles (Origins)

I felt it logical to begin my research by looking into the very thing I am creating to ascertain the origin of gargoyles, their purpose, and the many examples we have of them today.

The literal definition of a gargoyle as described in wikipedia is:

"a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between." - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle)

The direct function of a gargoyle as described above is to redirect rain water in a way that minimises weathering and damage caused by water to the building or structure. To achieve this the gargoyle would be designed where "A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth."

So the function of the gargoyle has been established and through looking at examples of gargoyles it seems that their appearance is directly related to the function in the sense that "Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall"

From this I continued by looking into the origin of the often grotesque appearances of gargoyles and what influenced their design other than they're practicality. The appearances of gargoyles vary massively between the time span of their existence with examples of their use as far back as ancient Greece and Egypt with lions to more recent times using creatures as imaginative as griffins. The most notable existence of gargoyles are those that appear on medieval cathedrals and churches as well as other buildings of that period often donning frightening, humorous or unnerving appearances. 

Buildings such as "The Notre-Dame Cathedral" or "The Basilica of the Sacré Cœur" are good examples of this displaying many creatures from goats to dogs to even fantastic griffins as forms of gargoyles. 

I am interested to know however why animals were often sculpted into the design of a gargoyle as a pose to simple stone structures that could serve the same purpose without the aesthetic addition.

 Despite my research and time looking into the origin of gargoyles i could not in fact find a definitive reason or source as to why animals are so commonly used as the subject for gargoyles.


Though intent on ascertaining the origin of the appearance of gargoyles, their time span stretches back simply too far to have a clear understanding of why animals were used as the sculpt for these pieces and I accept that it was most likely done for aesthetic purposes. Moving forward in time however from ancient Egypt and to medieval times we are able to at least have a better understanding of the purposes of the design of gargoyles based on their appearances rather than just their functions.

An article on mythology and gargoyles states the most common reason for gargoyles in medieval architecture stating that:
"It is believed that they were used to ward off evil and to act as guardians of the church to keep the terrible spirits of evil away" -
http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/articles/mythology_folklore/gargoyles.asp

Many believe, as stated above, that gargoyles would be used to ward off evil spirits but there are also other theories as to the intent behind their creation such as;

• Symbols to remind the faithless of what lies outside of church
• A reminder to the faithful of the evils of the world
• Warding off other demons as a statement that this is already a place of evil

Now the ideas of gargoyles scaring people or even demons intrigues me and I looked into how this works in the medieval belief system. A passage from a book titled, "Gargoyles: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry" reads;

"Medieval people believed that keeping away evil spirits required something even more frightening, and if the gargoyles were hideous enough , it was thought that they'd be effective at scaring off threatening creatures"

The very idea of combating monsters by creating monsters of your own is very fascinating and that the bigger and badder your gargoyles were the more effective they were. Another passage from the same book emphasises this point stating that;

"the idea of demons scaring off other demons, especially smaller demons of less consequence, was well within the belief system of medieval minds, that is, my demon can beat up your demon"

I am very much fond of this idea and intend to look into it further especially when considering the appearance and design of my gargoyle. To achieve this though i believe I will need to make further research into what aspects of a gargoyle appears so threatening and whether the creature sculpted has any more significance than just a terrifying appearance alone.