This is one kind of gargoyle.
GARGOYLES IN THE GUTTERS
Is that a monster, or a lion, or a giant bird looking down from the
church top?
It’s a monster, half-man and half-beast. But it isn’t real. It is made
of stone and called a gargoyle. It’s one of many weird stone figures
that decorate the gutters of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris,
France. Gargoyle comes from a Latin word that means gullet or drain.
That’s what gargoyles are—drainpipes. Each gargoyle has a passageway
inside that carries rainwater from the roof and out through the
gargoyle’s mouth.
Notre Dame is an old cathedral that stands on an island in the Seine
River in the center of Paris. “Notre Dame” is the way the French say
\”Our Lady.”
Kings and queens were crowned in the cathedral, including the Emperor
Napoleon and Empress Josephine.
The gargoyles have carried rain from the roof of the famous Cathedral of
Notre Dame for more than six hundred years.
