The chimeras and gargoyles that adorn the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington have been removed to be molded and recast.
The figures’ origins go back to the mid-19th century and have loomed over the cathedral for over 100 years. The cathedral collectively has 58 terra cotta figures, also known as grotesques. The chimeras and gargoyles were made from terra cotta due to its lightweight nature and ability to withstand rain, freezing, and thawing.
Even so, over many years, the figures have stood. It was time to recast them, said cathedral communications director Laura Keener.
The gargoyles are decorative false rainspouts, and the chimeras are decorative anthropomorphized figures atop the façade modeled after the ones at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. While both are decorative features at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, the gargoyles on Notre Dame Cathedral and others have a practical function as downspouts, projecting rainwater from the building, Keener said.
But scholars and art historians have historically argued about the purpose of chimeras and gargoyles, she said.
“Many claim they are symbols of guardianship for protection from evil for both the cathedral and God’s people,” Keener said. “Many art historians, however, say that the medieval artisans created the grotesques as a purely creative gift for God alone.”
Keener said architects at SHP, a local Architectural Firm, used TrueScan 3D technology to create exact replicas of the chimeras and gargoyles. They will be molded and recast in terra cotta utilizing the same process the cathedral builders used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The artisans at Boston Valley Terra Cotta in New York will then recreate the figures.
According to the Bishop’s Administrative Assistant, Father Jordan Hainsey, though the outside of the cathedral is based on Notre Dame, the interior is based on the Abbey Church of St. Denis in Paris.
Hainsey said the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption was constructed by the cathedral’s third bishop Camillus Paul Maes.
Maes broke ground on the cathedral on April 13, 1894; laid the cornerstone on Sept. 8, 1895; dedicated the cathedral on Jan. 27, 1901; and dedicated the façade on June 29, 1910. The façade was left unfinished in 1914 and was later completed by the tenth Bishop of Covington, Roger J. Foys, in 2002.
