Gargoyles

Excerpt

Gargoyles are carvings, on the outside of buildings, designed to shed the water away or conceal drainpipes that usually take the form of fantastic animals. These decorated gutters are architectural necessities to prevent rainwater from running down the masonry and eroding the mortar. In the Gothic era they became the preferred method of water drainage. The word is derived from the Latin word gargula which means throat, and is also connected to the French word gagariser which means “to gargle”. Although, strictly speaking, only carving functioning as waterspouts should be labeled gargoyles, the term has been widely applied to any grotesque carving found in medieval buildings [1]. …