REVIVING MEDIEVAL MONSTERS

How modern artisans are honing an age-old style of stonecraft and bringing new beauty to an English cathedral

ROFF SMITH

ON A DAMP SPRING MORNING in the ancient English city of York, a group of schoolchildren stopped in front of the iconic York Minster cathedral and broke into giggles, sharing uneasy looks. Built over a period of 250 years and consecrated in 1472, the church is the largest Gothic cathedral in Britain. It features three huge medieval towers adorned with shimmering stained-glass windows. But the kids were focused more intently on something at the edge of the stonemason’s yard outside the building that stared back at them: a large stone statue of a bestial creature in midscream, clutching its head as a frog sprang from its mouth. Weighing about half a ton, the freshly made carving is a classic example of a medieval grotesque, a style of ornate architectural decoration that…

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National Geographic (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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