Gargoyle of the Day

Gargoyle of the Day: Tullgarns Slott (Palace), Södermanland, Sweden

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Gargoyle on Tullgarn Palace in Sweden. Photo by Holger.Ellgaard (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tullgarn_Spygatt_2011.jpg

Tullgarns Slott (Tullgarn Palace, in English) is an elegant summer palace of Swedish monarchy, built in the 1720s. Tullgarn is a mixture of several architectural styles and has beautiful wrought iron work, including these unusual-yet-functional gargoyles. The cream and peace Neo-Classical palace exterior (image below) hardly looks like someplace where one might find gargoyles, but here they are! I love this gargoyle’s stylized face, the exaggerated curves of the tongue and plumage, and the minimalist treatment of the body. It reminds me of a Chinese dragon, and it’s definitely not what I expected to find when I looked up Swedish gargoyles, but I always love gargoyle-related surprises.

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Tullgarns Slott in Sweden. Photo by Holger.Ellgaard (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tullgarns_slott_fasad_v%C3%A4st_2012a

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