The Eagle of St. Vitus, Prague, Czech Republic

A gargoyle in the shape of a lion from the Neo-Gothic western facade of the Katedrála svatého Vita, Václava a Vojtěcha (St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral) at the Hradčany castle in Praha, Česká Republika. The cathedral serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Prague.

In architectural terms, this is technically not a gargoyle but a grotesque, since gargoyles are defined as being an ornamental and functional waterspout; this grotesque lacks the essential quality of being a functional waterspout.

The term gargoyle originates from the French "gargouille" meaning "throat." Water spouts projecting from roofs at the parapet level were a common device used to shed rainwater from buildings until the early eighteenth century, after which gutters and down pipes became more prevalent.

Work this Cathedral stalled in the the mid-1500s and did not resume in earnest till three centuries later. Thus this gargoyle is relatively modern, being done in the mid to late 19th Century to the early 20th Century in a Neo-Gothic style that complemented the rest of the original church. Much of the sculptural work on the western facade executed in the 1920s in part by the sculptor Vojtěch Sucharda.

You can learn more about this cathedral on Wikipedia at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral

Processed in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Contact me for high resolution versions for nonpersonal use. DSC_7534 mc lr

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