Falling gargoyles force repairs (León Spain)

[struggle4progress]

Dale Fuchs in Madrid
Monday January 22, 2007
The Guardian

Two fallen gargoyles have set off an emergency effort to prevent further deterioration of the 13th-century cathedral of León in northwestern Spain, considered one of the country's most beautiful gothic landmarks.

After centuries of spouting water with a frozen grimace, an eagle-like stone gargoyle weighing 100kg tumbled from the cathedral towers in December, the second in less than a week. The falls caused alarm throughout the city about the state of the building - and the safety of passersby ...

A team of restoration experts is inspecting each of the 7,000 bug-eyed monsters, griffins, devils and other odd stone figures on the exterior - including one of a man defecating, according to a technician who has access to hard-to-see pinnacles. Twenty gargoyles have been encased in small steel cages ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,1995744,00.html

[sakabatou]

1. GORGILES!

They're dorksided!

[struggle4progress]

2. uh well ... usually that's the idea ... yeah eom

[sakabatou]

4. Some DUers will get it.

[xchrom]

3. spain has a wonderful archive of ancient buildings

and it's always good to see a country engage in efforts to preserve it's architectural history.