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Gargoyles - Explored

I have always been fascinated by the gargoyles that I have seen on churches and Notre Dame Cathedral has such fine examples of them. Tradition has it that Notre-Dame’s first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III.

 

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building

 

The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet";[1] cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, "throat"; Spanish gárgola, "gargoyle").

 

#399 on Explore on 3rd December, 2009

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Uploaded on December 2, 2009
Taken on September 7, 2009