[John Isbell]

I have a hunch that celebrated gargoyle is a Viollet-le Duc creation.
BTW, gargoyle comes from the French gargouiller, to gargle. True gargoyles need spouts for rainwater to run through ...

Cheers,
John

[Julie Steiner]

Yes, Le Styrge is one of the "newfangled" Viollet-le-Duc creations. As derided by the curmudgeons of its day as emoji and gifs are in ours. (And technically a grotesque, not a gargoyle, which, as you say, are designed to have water running through them.)

Aaron, before I saw your comment, I had edited out the other images I had posted, which included the nose-picking grotesque at Ely Cathedral, and some recent emoji-inspired grotesques on a Dutch building. Plus a link to some of the many authentic, obscene gargoyles, but I belatedly reconsidered that in light of the clergy sex scandals.

I was trying (and failing) to suggest that we could all lighten up a bit in this thread. The level of hostility and vitriol over minor quibbles is troubling. And humor is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

[Aaron Novick]

Julie, I reread your post and realized I was taking it too seriously. Sorry.

[Julie Steiner]

Misreading things and taking them too seriously is MY job. Stay in your lane.

[John Isbell]

The Lincoln Imp gets its own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Imp
I used to find myself in Ely fairly regularly and sad to say, I missed the nose-picker. He pops up in a Google search. There's a grotesque in an Oxford College which a don felt was aimed at him, and the story goes, over the years, he resembled it increasingly. Maybe Christ Church?

Cheers,
John

[Aaron Novick]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

Misreading things and taking them too seriously is MY job. Stay in your lane.

I am duly chastened.

[Jim Moonan]

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Things, will be fine, I think, with nearly a billion in contributions already in for restoration. The fire will take its place alongside the other historic events/tragedies that have framed the cathedral through the centuries.

Of no connection to the burning of Notre Dame except to me, is that it brings back memories of my youngest daughter's meltdown in the plaza at the entrance to the cathedral (she was five). She put on a spectacular performance and drew the attention of the armed police who came over and put out the "fire" with kind words and smiles and pats on the back.

Another memory triggered is that I lived, penniless, for a short period of time on the Left Bank across from ND. If we had a window we would have had a close-up view of the cathedral, but alas, we were windowless... And the plumbing was spotty as I recall.

Now, if the Ile Saint-Louis just downstream were to sink, that would bring tears to my eyes. I remember sitting in a park overlooking ND for an entire afternoon on Ilse St. Louis with a baguette and a jar of Nutella, thinking I had it made.
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[John Isbell]

The Ile St Louis - not as quiet as it used to be. People also often don't know about The Memorial to the Deported at the eastern tip of the Ile de la Cite. It's worth a visit.

Cheers,
John

[Jim Moonan]

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John: The Ile St Louis - not as quiet as it used to be.

I'm not surprised. Though it wasn't the quiet so much as the architecture and the lack of cars(?) ...And I was a vagabond.
I also spent a winter on Ibiza back when it was nothing much more than adobe houses with dirt floors and fireplaces to cook in. It was the most rural place I've ever lived. Today, though, I think you can see and hear the island's neon lights from Barcelona.
There's a poem that could be written about the places that were once gem-like in their undiscovered state but when once discovered they morphed into toy stores for the materialist hedonists.
Wait. Joni Mitchell already wrote it : )
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[Julie Steiner]

I've posted my translation of the aforementioned 1924 essay (a series of prose poems, almost) about Notre Dame's grotesques by the Mexican essayist José María González y Mendoza here, if anyone's interested.