Darth Vader Carved Grotesque

[My Good Babushka]

There is a sculpture of Darth Vader on Washington’s National Cathedral. During construction, a contest was held amongst children to suggest a carved grotesque. Christopher Rader, of Kearney, Nebraska, won with his drawing of Darth Vader’s head.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. Darth Vader is a Gargoyle !!

is that a working spout, I wonder ... surely, it looks like it is. Very Cool.

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved or formed grotesque[1] with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.

more at link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle