Fantastic Beasts (Oh Look, I Found One)

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Basilisk carving on Amiens Cathedral façade. Bridaham, Lester Burbank. The Gargoyle Book: 572 Examples from Gothic Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006. Page 9.
Bridaham, Lester Burbank. The Gargoyle Book: 572 Examples from Gothic Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006. Page 9.

Harry Potter fans (such as myself) will certainly enjoy this basilisk grotesque carved into the façade of Amiens Cathedral in France. It is interesting that the basilisk (or cockatrice) of medieval legend looks almost nothing like the one described in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but its other characteristics and the deadly effects of its stare are identical. As a nerdy bonus, here is a great article from the Smithsonian Magazine about the history of the basilisk legend.


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