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COVINGTON, Ky. — <\/span>Gargoyles have watched over this small Kentucky city for more than a century from their lofty perches on a cathedral known as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Notre Dame.\u201d A new renovation will ensure they keep their posts for years to come on the meticulously restored facade of the towering stone sanctuary. <\/p>\n Workers in recent weeks have been installing new terra cotta gargoyles as one of the final steps of a major, two-year restoration of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. The Catholic cathedral’s nickname stems from how its exterior was modeled on the larger Notre Dame Cathedral<\/a> in Paris \u2014 from the pointed arches and flying buttresses to the gargoyles and chimeras with their reptilian grins and piercing, canine eyes.<\/p>\n Unlike the Paris landmark, which recently underwent a massive renovation because of a sudden and devastating fire<\/a>, the Covington cathedral needed a rehab due to the slow deterioration of old stone, metal and terra cotta after 125 years of exposure to the elements in its Ohio River city across from Cincinnati.<\/p>\n \u201cWe consider ourselves blessed to be able to ensure the cathedral is taken care of for coming generations,\u201d said Assumption\u2019s rector, the Very Rev. Ryan Maher.<\/p>\n Workers have been painstakingly repairing and replacing tons of Indiana limestone. The new gargoyles are replicas based on meticulous scans of the 32 worn originals.<\/p>\n Workers aim to complete the two-year restoration by March. The finishing touch will be the installation of new 26 chimeras along the rooftop. These grotesque creatures, similar to gargoyles, are exact replicas of their weathered predecessors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe that you\u2019re able to replicate a piece that was built a hundred years ago by men that are no longer with us,\u201d said Brian Walter, executive vice president of Trisco Systems, the prime contractor for the restoration.<\/p>\n Workers have faced numerous challenges throughout the project: hoisting and fitting heavy stones into the fa\u00e7ade while operating cranes above a busy street in the heat, cold and wind. They have been patching and fixing what they can and replacing other parts entirely. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an art and a science that\u2019s passed down from generation to generation,\u201d Walter said. \u201cEvery part of it is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n Those challenges began long before the materials even arrived at the cathedral, for a project involving architects, stonecutters, terra cotta artists and more.<\/p>\n Workers made precise scans of deteriorated finials, arches, balustrades and other architectural elements so stonecutters could make exact matches. Organizers sourced stone from Bedford, Indiana, where limestone for the original cathedral was quarried. <\/p>\n Over the generations, the cathedral has had several renovations and overhauls, with exterior statues added in 2019.<\/p>\n But Maher knew a comprehensive exterior renovation was needed when, in 2018, he found a large, fallen piece of stone \u2014 evidence of a wider deterioration.<\/p>\n This time, workers used more durable stainless steel pins and brackets to secure the stone and replace the original carbon steel, which had rusted. <\/p>\n The cathedral opened in 1901, following a multiyear construction campaign by the Belgian-born Bishop Camillus Paul Maes, head of the Diocese of Covington and an admirer of the French Gothic style.<\/p>\n While the exterior is modeled on Notre Dame, it has adaptations. It is just under half of the Paris cathedral\u2019s size, lacking the original\u2019s twin towers and featuring a narrower but still imposing fa\u00e7ade. The high-vaulted interior, bathed in light from large stained-glass windows, is modeled on another landmark Paris cathedral, Saint-Denis.<\/p>\n The ambition was striking, cathedral historian Stephen Enzweiler said. The city then had just over 40,000 people, similar to its population today. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, no one had ever heard of Covington,\u201d Enzweiler said. <\/p>\n Maes wanted a sanctuary large enough to accommodate the rapidly growing immigrant Catholic population and grand enough to fulfill the medieval vision of a cathedral that would \u201crepresent heaven on earth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The cathedral was part of a larger Gothic revival happening around the turn of the century that also saw the emergence of such landmark cathedrals as St. Patrick\u2019s and St. John the Divine in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a smaller version of that revival of French Gothic in America, done at a very high level in a little town at the time, of surprisingly high quality,\u201d said Duncan Stroik, an architect, professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame and author of \u201cThe Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence and the Eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows the talent of the bishop, the architect and the craftsmen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ironically, some of that Gothic revival wasn\u2019t quite as medieval as it may seem. The movement drew strong influence from the mid-19th century renovation of the Paris cathedral after the popular novel, \u201cThe Hunchback of Notre Dame,\u201d called attention to its deterioration.<\/p>\n Notre Dame’s renovation architect, Eug\u00e8ne Viollet-le-Duc, added new elements such as the gargoyle-like chimeras on the rooftop. Unlike the gargoyles on Notre Dame, which double as rainspouts, the Covington sanctuary’s fantastical creatures are purely decorative. <\/p>\n Theories vary about the medieval intent behind the gargoyles. Were they to ward off evil spirits? Did they represent the demonic realm outside the sanctuary of the church? Were they allegorical figures for morality lessons? Or simply the imaginative fruits of medieval craftsmen?<\/p>\n In modern times, gargoyles and chimeras have often become objects of endearment \u2014 portrayed by Disney as animated comic sidekicks and replicated in miniature as bookends, figurines and garden art. The Covington cathedral\u2019s newsletter is named the Gargoyle Gazette.<\/p>\n The renovation price tag is $7.8 million, most of which has been raised. More than 2,000 donors contributed, along with foundations, Maher said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was kind of an easy sell, because of what the cathedral means to not only our parishioners but to the whole community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The goal is to maintain the cathedral as a sanctuary for years to come.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen everything is upside down, this is a place of people where people can experience the calm of the Lord,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n