Photos: An up-close look at Covington’s chimeras, back home at Cathedral Basilica

The chimeras and gargoyles that adorn the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington were returned to their Covington home earlier this year after being removed in 2023 to be molded and recast.

Renowned local photographers Glenn Hartong and Michael Keating were allowed an up-close look this week, capturing photos of the newly recast figures overlooking Northern Kentucky. Scroll down for more photos of the chimeras from Hartong and Keating, or keep reading to learn more about the figures’ history.

The chimeras are decorative anthropomorphized figures atop the facade modeled after the ones at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral also has gargoyles, which are decorative false rainspouts modeled after Notre Dame, where they have a practical function as downspouts.

Scholars and art historians have historically argued about the purpose of chimeras and gargoyles, Diocese communications director Laura Keener told LINK nky as the statues were being removed.

“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 were 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 then recreated the figures.