National Cathedral Gargoyles

Gargoyles and grotesques of long ago were frequently scary images of monsters and mythical creatures. Today as some places replace ones that are wearing down in the elements, they may put in place ones based on real people or even characters from stories. One such place that is doing that is that National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Darth Vader is very high up. He is on the dark side of one section.

I heard they had a Darth Vader grotesque. I asked the guards at the Cathedral where it was located. They answered look on the dark side. They didn’t seem so sure of its exact location themselves. I had to ask someone wandering around. It is high up on the dark side of northwest tower of the cathedral. It is very high up and one would need good binoculars to locate it.

For help locating the Darth Vader grotesque look here: https://cathedral.org/what-to-see/exterior/vader/

Gargoyles

Gargoyles have pipes going through a section of their body, usually the mouth. The purpose is to lead the water away from the building.

Monster with curlers?
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Two heads are better than one
Man-like creature with big eyebrows
Stick a fork in it- fishlike?
Definitely scary
Grotseques

Grotesques are like gargoyles, except they are more for decoration. They do not have a pipe protruding from a mouth.

A more traditional one
Making fun of the cathedral visitors?
Part man -part hooved beast
Appears to be a bagpiper
Angel rat

Many go to the cathedral to see the interior. If you plan to visit, bring a good pair of binoculars or a zoom lens. It is worth looking up.

7 thoughts on “National Cathedral Gargoyles”

  1. Iove gargoyles and you dis a great post Sharon. I am scheduling one on the gargoyles of Zagreb cathedral, in Croatia. But yours were so well sculpted and most of all I didn’t expect Darth Vader on a Cathedral 😂 I tend to look up as well so I assume these kind of details are not for everybody! I will be waiting for more post of yours ☺️

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    1. Thank you! Looking forward to your post! I hope I can catch it. My feed under reader is filled sometimes with posts of people who make several posts a day. The National Cathedral is much younger than the ones in Europe so a lot of the gargoyles are in better shape. Also they are replacing some due to earthquake damage. I noticed some churches in England are replacing their much weathered gargoyles and grotesques. It was interesting to me to see Darth Vader as well.

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      1. I was thinking yo a replacement in fact. Some old cathedrals in Europe are replacing old damages and consumed gargoyles with copies made nowadays. It would be nice to see more updated characters by the way🤣 something like “look for the intruder”!

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