Cathedral of Cologne, The Gargoyles

Gargoyles were „invented“ in antiquity. They were used to guide the rainwater from the roofs of temples and they were often shaped as heads of animals, foremost dragons. In the following decades they fell into oblivion till they were discovered again in gothic period. Gothic with its delicate stonemasonry made a well-structured water systems necessary again. At about 1220 the first gargoyles with fantastic shapes were built in France. These we call typical “medieval”. Their motives were not chosen by accident: People believed that demons would retreat if they saw their own picture because they were scared the gargoyles got this kind of appearance of the “breed of the evil”. Those breeds were thought to be responsible for thunderstorms and other climatic phenomenons. Thus the gargoyles can be seen as the lightening-rod of Middle Ages. Their work was to guard celestical Jerusalem in form of the cathedrals that were a symbol for it.
The Cologne Catedral has altogether 108 gargoyles that were made in a 800-years-period from 13th to the 20th century.

The Cologne cathedral was started in 1248 and remained unfinished for 300 years. Altogether its construction took more than 600 years.

The gargoyles are part of a system to diverse water from the roof of cathedrals in the Middle Ages.

In the so called Middle Ages (the dark period) people believed – more fearful than today – that god is in heaven and the evil between us. They wanted to have paradise inside “god`s house”, the cathedral. Outside, so their opinion, the devil must be held out of this area.
The gargoyles – especially in cologne – are very variously shaped in their outward appearance.
You can find the following motives: animals, fabulous creatures and as well as human beings.

An artistic analysis is not possible in so far as the stone-masons are part of different schools. They reached a very individual level relative to their artworks at several cathedrals in Germany and other countries.

As mentioned above the first typical shaped "gargoyles" were made in France. There are many cathedral-buildings where they can be found (Reims, Chartres, Straßbourg, Freiburg).

Gothic architecture is very interesting and to be found in several cathedrals in Germany. I selected a part (gargoyles) of this building, everybody is looking at. The gargoyles are an unconventional relict of the Middle Ages, the believe and the people of this period. But not all of the visitors do understand the meaning of it (inside the church means to be in paradise and the outside represents the evil part of life). They include also the function to draw off the water from the roof. The cologne cathedral is one of the major architectural masterpieces in Germany

Wasserspeier
Regina E.G. Schymiczek: Höllenbrut und Himmelswächter
www.koelnerdom.de

http://www.schymiczek.de
http://www.sehepunkte.de
http://www.zeit.de
http://www.nzzfolio.ch

Related Material:

Image available

File name: 55_Gargoyle-Dom-Koeln-bartweiserii_kl.jpg

Description of the material:

image 124 x 93 pixel 9,67 KB

Contextualisation Of the source:

This image was taken of one of the real medieval gargoyles of the Cologne Cathedral.

Interpretation of the source:

This image is part of the original Cologne-Cathedral-website, which you can find under the following address: http://www.koelner-dom.de/index.php?id=mittelalter the image itself is to be found under: http://www.koelner-dom.de/fileadmin/images/07galerie/wasserspeier/mitt/bartweiserii_kl.jpg

File name: 55_Gargoyle-Dom-Koeln-knappe_kl.jpg

Description of the material:

image, 124 x 93 Pixel 9,01 KB

Contextualisation Of the source:

This image is part of the official website of the Cologne Cathedral (http://www.koelner-dom.de/index.php?id=wasserspeier) This image can be found under the following address: http://www.koelner-dom.de/fileadmin/images/07galerie/wasserspeier/19/knappe_kl.jpg

Interpretation of the source:

This gargoyle was made in the 19th century. There were several gargoyles restaured in the 19th century, after masonry works were begun again at the cathedral in 1842.