Darth Vader Gargoyle on US National Cathedral [NOT humor!]

http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml ^ | 4/28/3

[NativeNewYorker]

As Washington National Cathedral approached completion, the west towers rose towards the sky, striking toward heaven. During the building a startling idea was hatched: hold a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral.

To Find Darth Vader you have to leave the building through the ramp entrance. This is located at the northwest corner of the nave, through the double wooden doors of Lincoln Bay. Go down the ramp, and step into the parking lot. Then, turn around and look back up at the tower closest to you. He is almost impossible to see without the assistance of binoculars.

Way way way up, almost at the top of the tower is a gablet, or small peaked roof, located between the two huge louvered arches. At the bottom of each slope of this gablet is a carved grotesque. Darth Vader is on the north, or right-hand, side. There is a carved skull situated on a gablet much closer to the ground which many people often mistake for Darth Vader. From this skull, Darth Vader is up and to the left.

[NativeNewYorker]

[eastsider]

My favorite gargoyles are the Chrysler hood ornaments on the Chrysler Building:

[coloradan]

Did they pay royalties to Spielberg?

[NativeNewYorker]

I was wondering that myself.

[Mr. Bird]

If they did, they should pay me too. I had as much to do with Vader as Spielberg did....(it was George Lucas)

[LenS]

I doubt it since Spielberg had nothing to do with Star Wars.

You're thinking of George Lucas.

[strela]

The link is 404-compliant from here.

[blau993]

The Washington Post Sunday Magazine did a wonderful piece some years back on the stonecutters who worked on the Cathedral and their impish sense of humor. The cutters are all Italian (of course). Many of them were brought over to work on the Cathedral and worked there until retirement. The tradition of stone cutters producing grotesques is an old one. Many of the carvings parody themselves and their friends.

[Jhoffa_]

Chisel him off of there.. along with any Lord Of the Rings sculptures you might find along the way.

I hate Star Wars zealots almost as bad as I hate the LOTR crowd.

[coloradan]

LOL! Spielberg, Lucas - all the same to me, evidently!

Were royalties paid, to whomever would be the appropriate person?

[NativeNewYorker]

The link/site is being slashdotted, hence the difficulty in getting in.

[Restorer]

Good idea!

Gollum would make a great gargoyle.

[annyokie]

I have friends who are so wrapped up in the LOTR thing that it makes one want to scream, "For God's sake! You're 45 years old! They're not real, already!"

[Jhoffa_]

Damn you, Restorer!

[Plutarch]

There is a long tradition of stone-cutters demonstrating creativity when it comes to gargoyles.

It is a bit irritating, however, that a popular culture image should be used; especially one associated with a pseudo-religion "The Force", etc.

When I was attending a service at Washington Cathedral in the 1980's they had a calypso band performing. The tune was John Lennon's "Imagine", which is a vertitable atheist hymm.

[Jhoffa_]

LOL!

Oh, I know..you're not exagerating a bit.

It's like a mass mind control scenario with that bunch.

[Grand Old Partisan]

It can't be much worse than the large carving of a naked woman on the exterior above the main entrance.

[NativeNewYorker]

Yeah. What struck me was that this is about as UN-Christian as you can get. I'm *Jewish*, and I find it creepy.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Not to be a complete nerd but you're thinking of George Lucas, not Spielberg.

Lucasfilm's attorneys are probably circling even as we speak.

[sam_paine]

Personal Statement: Patrick Plunkett began his career in 1962 at South Dorset Technical College in Weymouth, England, where, at the age of 15, he was apprenticed as a stone cutter. He gained his first restoration experience in Nottingham working on country churches and city banks, then graduated to the prestigious restoration team for the 700-year old Salisbury Cathedral, where, over a tenure of 7 years, he gained invaluable restoration skills and instructed new apprentices in the arts of traditional masonry. In 1975, he was offered a position as stone carver at Washington National Cathedral, where he worked under the careful eye of two master carvers on such projects as Frederick Hart's three "Creation" sculptures over the west doors. Mr. Plunkett remained at Washington Cathedral until its completion and dedication in 1990. He was invited to do part-time restoration work on the White House in 1986, accepting a full-time position as Superintendent of Stone Restoration in 1991.