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Gargoyles of Notre-Dame de Paris Dragon-headed gargoyle of the Tallinn Town Hall, Estonia Gargoyle of the Vasa Chapel at Wawel in Kraków, Poland. In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle (/ ˈ ɡ ɑːr ɡ ɔɪ l /) is a carved or formed grotesque [1]: 6–8 with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it ...
Grotesque are often called gargoyles, although the term gargoyle refers to figures carved specifically to drain water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term babewyn was used to refer to both gargoyles and chimerae. [2] This word is derived from the Italian word babbuino, which means "baboon".
Gothic Revival architecture varied considerably in its faithfulness to both the ornamental styles and construction principles of its medieval ideal, sometimes amounting to little more than pointed window frames and touches of neo-Gothic decoration on buildings otherwise created on wholly 19th-century plans, using contemporary materials and ...
Some serve the functional purpose of waterspouts and draining water from buildings, but many are simply decorative gargoyles, also known as 'grotesque'. The abundance of a variety of gargoyles featured in the Quadrangle's architecture relates to gargoyles being characteristic of Neo-Gothic medieval architecture, as they have a symbolic role of ...
The decoration of the interior and exterior of the skyscrapers was classic Art Deco, with geometric shapes and zigzag patterns. The Chrysler Building, by William Van Alen (1928–30), updated the traditional gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals with sculptures on the building corners in the shape of Chrysler radiator ornaments. [5]
Grotesque studies, Michelangelo Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks.
A hunky punk is a grotesque carving on the side of a building, especially Late Gothic churches. Such features are especially numerous in Somerset (in the West Country of England). [1] Though similar in appearance to a gargoyle, a hunky punk is purely decorative, with no other functional purpose (often referred to as a grotesque). A gargoyle is ...
Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice, originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture, and some from Islamic architecture, reflecting Venice's trading network. Very unusually for medieval architecture, the style is at its most characteristic in ...