Bizarre Postcards - Gargoyles, Grotesques & Chimera

The term "gargoyle" originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet" 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"). It is also connected to the French verb gargariser, which means "to gargle." The Italian word for gargoyle is grónda sporgente, an architecturally precise phrase which means "protuding gutter." The German word for gargoyle is Wasserspeier, which means "water spitter." The Dutch word for gargoyle is waterspuwer, which means "water spitter" or "water vomiter." A building that has gargoyles on it is "gargoyled."

A grotesque figure is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. These are also usually called gargoyles in layman's terminology, although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.

A chimera is a mythical creature made from parts of other creatures or humans. In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that terminated in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her spine. The Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.

Notre Dame, Paris, France

This unused postcard, which is a modern reprint of an old photograph, has the printed text...

ISBN 1881270629
BR41
748053016028

Gargoyle, Notre Dame, Paris, 1933, Photograph by Brassai
Gilberte Brassai
Fotofolio

Most of the gargoyles of Notre Dame cathedral are in fact gutters or drainpipes, carrying rain water away from the walls.

Notre Dame, Paris, France

This unused postcard has the printed text...

2
Paris - Notre Dame - Chimere
Notre Dame Church - Chimera
A. P.
Carte Postale
A. Leconte, 38 r. Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, Paris

Notre Dame, Paris, France

This unused postcard has the printed text...

16
Paris - Notre Dame - Chimere
Notre Dame Church - Chimera
A. P.
Carte Postale
E. Papeghin, 24, Rue des Petites-Ecuries, Paris

This page created 1st May 2010, last modified 1st May 2010