Why are Gargoyles on buildings always so demonic looking?

Answer 1

To ward off evil spirits.

Answer 2

There seem to me to be three kinds of gargoyle, the original physically functional (well, the rain's got to flow off the roof somehow, and shooting it out away from the walls keeps the walls less damp and erosion off the foundations); the spiritual influence of various possible kinds (many including: don't mess with my church ye demon from hell we're here to protect it; or as a warning to potential sinners; or as pagan symbols to encourage believers in the old ways to come to church; etc); and lastly, the purely ornate (which I'm not sure really count as gargoyles, strictly speaking they're "grotesques").

Most are a mixture of these, and it's sometimes a blurry line between them. Some places, like Woburn Church, have both scary (looking down from the roof parapets at the congregation) and scary-practical (shedding rain off the roof of the tower). Some, like Carcasonne have largely ornate and pretentious ones. Many gargoyles have some apparent symbolic meaning (like hairy hands), often hard to discern. A few are charicatures. A few choice ones with bared body parts exhibit the Celtic and later belief in rudeness as a ward against evil. Others, for which I have a sort of fondness, are little more than plumbing.

Curiously, almost all (of the old ones at least) are individuals, no two are the same. And perhaps significantly although gargoyle-like roof drainage has been found from Ancient Greek and Roman times, almost all of what we think of as classic gargoyles are found in what were the last bastions of Celtic resistance to Christianity shortly before or during early medieval times when they first really appeared.

The scaring off demons type, though, is to me the surprising one for being so obviously demon-like and yet being on a church which is supposed to represent the opposite. The irony of it constantly amazes me, and puzzles me why people should do such a potentially dangerous thing. Fight fire with fire, but it always struck me as rather like keeping a large vicious dog that probably does not like you in order to scare away a large vicious dog that probably does not like you. Still, some of the carvings they produced to do it are fascinating.

Answer 3

Gargoyles were specifically designed to spout water away from a masonry structure. They have a throat. Usually churches or grand public buildings constructed of stone. Which is susceptable to damp and weathering. They were ugly and scary . Simarlarly the counterpart piece of masonry to release weight and to extract and repel demons was a chimmerra.Simmaly ugly and scary.

Answer 4

They are there to keep evil from entering in. I was once thought that Gargoyles were 'good' evil beings and they being demonic looking they would scare away bad evil, thus protecting the structure from being attacked,and taken over by the bad evil beings.

Answer 5

Some of the earliest known forms of this type of architectural element have been found in ancient Roman and Greek ruins. These were made of terra-cotta. Later figures were carved of wood, with a complete shift to stone by the 13th century.

Gargoyles were originally intended as waterspouts and drains to keep rain water from damaging the foundation of buildings. The term gargoyle, comes from the Latin gurgulio, and the Old French gargouille, not only meaning "throat" but also describing the "gurgling" sound made by water as it ran through the figure. Superstition held that gargoyles frightened away evil spirits while serving their practical function. After the lead drainpipe was introduced in the sixteenth century, gargoyles primarily served a decorative function.
Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous. Unusual animal mixtures, or chimeras, did not act as rainspouts and are more properly called grotesques. They serve more as ornamentation, but are now synonymous with gargoyles.

Answer 6

Gargoyles are portrayed as being ugly so as to deter demonic spirits from entering the building that they're guarding.

Answer 7

it is to scare away the evil from the outside world and to protect the building from i guess spirts and other evil things that crawl about building with gargoyles

Answer 8

Well they are ugly so people like me don't feel inferier about going into a church as god so claims everyone is beautifull i asked for looks think he thought books and gave me a bloody horror hence why the gargoyles are so called ugly i think they are gorgeous compared to me lol

Answer 9

Gargoyles were slipped into the architectural plans of Cathedrals by medieval pranksters who were too busy designing and building churches to have much time to concentrate on what actually went on inside them. They are designed to provoke a reaction; distract, offend, frighten, amuse. They are an enjoyable and enlivening contrast to the saintity and reverence of worship, and a witty reminder of the duality of life.

Answer 10

Gargoyles were put on churches originally to frighten bad spirits away. I think they would frighten anybody away!

Answer 11

Because they are Gargoyles they are supposed to be demonic I would imagine