Gargoyle
This article is about the statues on buildings. For the monster, see Gargoyle (monster). For other uses, see Gargoyle (disambiguation).
Gargoyles of Notre-Dame de Paris Dragon-headed gargoyle of the Tallinn Town Hall, Estonia Gargoyle of the Vasa Chapel at Wawel in Kraków, Poland In architecture, and specifically in Gothic architecture, a gargoyle (/ˈɡɑːrɡɔɪl/) is a carved or formed grotesque:6–8 with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on a building to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. A … Continue Reading (7 minute read)