The Spitting Gargoyle - France - Epcot
N 28° 22.134 W 081° 33.168
17R E 445833 N 3138192
Located in the lobby of the France 360 vision movie are a pair of gargoyles.
Waymark Code: WM799T
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 09/22/2009
Views: 19
Legend has it that the Holy Virgin Mark drove evil spirits from the sacred interiors of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. the spirits were turned to stone and forced to stand guard, watching over and protecting all those within.
History is not quite so romantic. The builders were concerned that rain water would collect on the roof, ultimately causing it to collapse. So they created an elegant drainage system to move the rainwater off the roof. They concealed drain pipes and gutters in buttresses and alon the oinnacles. Stone cutters and masons then carved artfully hideous creatures to serve as waterspouts.
Despite their repulsive features, gargoyles and chimeras retain a certain charm. This is one of the reasons Victor Hugo used them as the mtaphor for the bell ringer, Quasimodo, in his masterful work, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It is the same reason Disney animators created three talking gargoyles for its feature length, animated version of the Hugo classic.
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Next to Quasimodo, the chimera commonly referred to as the "Spitting Gargoyle" may be the most famous resident of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Of the hundreds of hideous creatures that guard along the
of the Cathedral he is one of the most photographed.
this replication was created from a cast of the original. Lichele Lorentzi, master craftsman, had to climb to the top of the Cathedral to make the cast for his sculpture.
Anyone who has seen Disney's
will notice uncanny resemblance with the character of averne.