Grotesque (architecture)  

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Stryge (1853) is a print by French etcher Charles Méryon depicting one of the gargoyles of the Galerie des chimères of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral.
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Stryge (1853) is a print by French etcher Charles Méryon depicting one of the gargoyles of the Galerie des chimères of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral.

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"[grotesque figures] in the frescoes and bas-reliefs which adorned the cathedrals and even village churches of the 12th and 13th centuries" --Rabelais and His World (tr. Hélène Iswolsky)

In architecture chimera refers to a fantastic, mythical or grotesque figure used for decorative purposes. Chimerae are often described as gargoyles. Used correctly, the term gargoyle refers to mostly eerie figures carved specifically as terminations to spouts which convey water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term babewyn was used to refer to both gargoyles and chimerae. This word is derived from the Italian word babuino, which means "baboon."

From Index Architecture:

The chimerical system produces cross-categorical couplings in which the initial systems are inextricably merged, that is, transformed into a system or systems with entirely new identities. Employing a 'chimerical mode,' the studio looked at ways of coupling categorically different systems by identifying and exploiting compatibilities and affinities between them.

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