Chimeras of the Galerie des Chimères, Notre-Dame de Paris

Two carved stone figures, resembling raptor-like or demonic creatures, sit side-by-side on a narrow stone ledge. The foreground figure on the right is heavily feathered with a hooked beak and prominent brow ridge, while the figure behind it to the left appears smoother with a more pointed, predatory profile. A black, square-grid safety net obscures much of the foreground, while a hazy, sunlit cityscape of Paris is visible in the background through the openings.

These sculptures, largely the work of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc during his 19th-century restoration of Notre-Dame, represent the Gothic Revival's romanticized and imaginative interpretation of medieval bestiaries and architectural grotesques. They function as a modern synthesis of the medieval habit of placing apotropaic figures on cathedrals to ward off evil and mediate between the sacred space of the church and the profane city.