Gargoyles are stone statues that are attached to buildings.

But they are more than just a decoration.

"There seemed to be miles of dark wood. ...square long panels in lecture rooms." (p. 188) The Delia Dell was fashioned around an actual building at the University of Chicago, Ida Noyes Hall. Its a beautiful building full of oak wainscoting, gessoed ceilings, and a hand-wrought iron stair rail, as well as an elaborate cloister. This building is described as "the bright building across the street. Completed in 1916, there were stone turrets, an assortment of chimneys, and casement windows. The building cast a warm yellow glow..., a glow that sent ....fingers of light into the dark." (p. 188=189)

It’s hard to know for sure. But the oldest gargoyle is found on a building in Turkey. It’s 13,000 years old and looks like a crocodile.

The ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks also carved gargoyles to use as drain spouts on their buildings.

And gargoyles became very popular on churches in Europe during the 1200s.

Gargoyles look like all kinds of creatures, including animals, dragons and strange, imaginary monsters. Some gargoyles are even made to look like humans. In these cases, the statues were often carved to look like the priests or church elders who were found at a church during that time.

Experts aren’t sure why so many gargoyles were carved to look angry and fierce. But they do have a couple of ideas. Some think that the gargoyles’ angry faces were meant to scare away evil spirits and protect the building. Others think that scary gargoyles were placed on churches to remind people that there is evil in the world, so they should enter the church often and live a good life. Some legends hold that gargoyles also protect against harmful spirits.