A grotesque in masonry is a stone sculpture that acts like a gutter to direct water away form a roof. (A gargoyle serves a similar purpose but the water exits out the mouth of the carving; the water runs over the top of a grotesque). In the great age of cathedral building, these often depicted demons or other representations of evil as well as mythical or fanciful figures.
In the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., there is a grotesque of Darth Vader very high on the northwest tower. You can see a photo of it at this link.
http://www.nationalcathedral.org/about/darthVader.shtml
Pretty neat way to tie modern myth to traditional practice.
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Karen,
ReplyDeleteHow did you find this bit of trivia? One wonders why there are not more such modernisms (assuming there are not, of course), which would be the more recent corrolaries of Benjamin Latrobe's "corncob capitals" at the nation's capitol building.
See- http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/hall_of_columns.cfm
Lee Jamison
Nice to know that someone reads this page. I was beginning to think I was only writing to myself.
ReplyDeleteI found it researching masonry methods and terms (I have students who are masonry teachers). The Rice University campus is rumored to have a lot of "hidden" treasures like this but most are not meaningful to people who are not connected to that university.