Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Jérôme,
I mentioned the elaborate “gargoyles”. Having looked them up there are two influences. From the earliest Greek buildings, water from roofs were diverted by tubes through elongated pipes away from the building, often decorating the spout end with a head.
Obviously, the longer the “body” of the animal constituting the water channel, the more efficiently would the expensive stone facade of the building be protected from water damage.
This developed excessively in the Catholic Church buildings, from Churches and monasteries to Schools and Cathedrals as a “fusion” of the roof water removal function with using elaborately carved monsters that could also serve to ward-off “evil spirits”.
Often, in Church architecture, there was no longer any connection to any water spout for roof run-off, instead, merely the magical means of apotropaic protection against the ever-present “evil” threatening and seducing the innocent!
“Apotropaic magic (from Greek αποτρέπειν "to ward off" from από-"away" and τρέπειν "to turn") is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye.”
Asher
I mentioned the elaborate “gargoyles”. Having looked them up there are two influences. From the earliest Greek buildings, water from roofs were diverted by tubes through elongated pipes away from the building, often decorating the spout end with a head.
Obviously, the longer the “body” of the animal constituting the water channel, the more efficiently would the expensive stone facade of the building be protected from water damage.
This developed excessively in the Catholic Church buildings, from Churches and monasteries to Schools and Cathedrals as a “fusion” of the roof water removal function with using elaborately carved monsters that could also serve to ward-off “evil spirits”.
Often, in Church architecture, there was no longer any connection to any water spout for roof run-off, instead, merely the magical means of apotropaic protection against the ever-present “evil” threatening and seducing the innocent!
“Apotropaic magic (from Greek αποτρέπειν "to ward off" from από-"away" and τρέπειν "to turn") is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye.”
Asher
