Trinity Episcopal Church - Photos Decor Detail

Trinity Episcopal Church

Gargoyles and grotesques are carved figures and faces usually found on churches like Trinity Episcopal Church and other old stone buildings.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

Gargoyles not only protect the building from temperamental weather, by preventing water from dripping to close to the walls. They also provide the site with symbolic protection.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

Trinity Episcopal Church in Detroit has a stunning variety of faces and figures, with more than 150 exterior stone carvings of all sorts.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

Often frightening in some aspects, they represent monsters inspired by fantastic bestiaries, wild or domestic beasts, and even mankind.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

These monsters keep demons and evil forces away from the sacred walls that protect the community of churchgoers, by scaring them away.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

Gargoyles also have a purifying role, since they digest unclean water and wastewater and keep it away from the walls.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org

Most of Trinity's stone carvings are based on fourteenth and fifteenth-century English models but this gargoyle is believed to be a portrait of the building foreman.

Photo (©) by Helmut Ziewers (www.ziewersphotography.com) of HistoricDetroit.org