Erotic gothic -les gargouilles of Suevres

The neighbouring village was very busy today, vide grenier is equal to 14 juillet in a small community. Looking for a parking space we turned behind the church I thought had nothing else to offer and was surprised to see a couple of gargoyles I missed before. One of them was on the ground, the other nearly destroyed, but the third was quite unusual.


Leaving the parking we saw the priest entering the church. I was very curious to ask him if this gargoyle has always decorated the church or this was the artistic freedom of a mason who did the restoration. Some of the gargoyles were clearly restored recently. My husband refused to assist and my French is not good enough to have an intelligent conversation. I guess I'll never know.
Quel cauchemar!

Les gargoyles de Blois

Les gargouilles Saint-Valerie-sur-Somme

Les gargouilles

The vacation in September didn't start very well. The weather is windy, the temperatures are low and the places are empty. I usually hate the crowds that flood France in summer, but it seems to be even worse without them. Being alone in a huge camping in a middle of French nowhere is a doubtless pleasure. Still this beautiful country is full of surprises that save me from boredom. Just look at these gargoyle in a small village Suevres. I have at least 20 different ones from the churches all over Picardie and Pay de Loire.






Here is the view from above that shows the actual purpose of these figures and explains why most of them have the mouths wide open- they served as water pipes.
The gargoyle of Chenonceau:

Middelheim Museum

Middelheim museum in Antwerp houses an extended collection of the 20th century sculpture. I was curious how many concrete pieces they have. There were some objects that looked like concrete but when I came closer and touched them and scratched them gently with my nail, and knocked lightly with my knuckles, they turned out to be metal or natural stone. I managed to identify only four (!) concrete pieces and was absolutely sure but 2 out of four were 'granite stone' according to internet catalogue. Couldn't believe my eyes. Granite stone 'Column pavilions' by Charles Vandenhove