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Darth Vader Sculpture on Washington National Cathedral
Michael Breeden writes "Star Wars has apparently taken another step in becoming part of our national history. The Washington National Cathedral, during its expansion, has placed a sculpture of Darth Vader's head into the carvings around one of the exterior arches. This space is normally reserved for grotesques (gargoyles), and ol' Darth seems to have fit the bill. "
The Darth gargoyle was carved and placed on the Cathedral in the 1980s--it was carved by master sculptor Palumbo (RIP) by a young lad who received honorable mention in a "Design-a-gargoyle" contest sponsored by World magazine (National Geographic for children).
The winner was a smiling gargoyle toting an umbrella.
***Foucault is watching you..***
Mirros:
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r xapSYQmgC: www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml+& hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Archive.org mirror:
http://web.archive.org/web/2002060718373
Google archive:
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:1i
Not much faster, though. Wasn't this posted a long time ago?
The national cathedral has many unique gargoyles, that's typical of the medieval style actually. Since many of them could never be seen except (in the pre-binocular/telescope age) the carvers, they could sculpt bosses they hated, cultural figures, politicians, etc. There was an issue of Smithsonian magazine that described some of them (the artists were left to their own will, mostly, on what they could put up there). There's undoubtedly a number more of these little "easter eggs" put in those doing the construction.
And it's a nice complement to the chunk of moon rock in the 'creation' stained glass window there also.
There was a competition for children to design a bit of sculpture for the cathedral. Personally, I think this choice is great: I suspect it's high and out-of-the-way enough, and similar enough to other random gargoyles, that you'll miss it unless you look carefully and think, "Hey, wait a minute..."
I also enjoyed their rationale. Heh. It's even sort of true, if you replace "evil" with "mythical monsters".
"Centuries ago, on our cathedrals, grotesques were intended to symbolize the evil that existed outside the church. Today, Darth Vader is an excellent example of evil in our times."
As Washington National Cathedral approached completion, the west towers rose towards the sky, striking toward heaven. During the building a startling idea was hatched: hold a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral.
Word of the competition was spread nationwide through National Geographic World Magazine. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader, with his drawing of that fearful villain, Darth Vader. The fierce head was sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter, carved by Patrick J. Plunkett and placed high upon the northwest tower of the Cathedral...
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
I recall reading about the Darth Vader inclusion back in the 1980s. ^^ It's not something new; he was actually included by a fairly famous sculptor during that time. You can see his bio and a picture of Vader here:
http://www.stoneguild.com/m_plunkett.htm
Despite the writeup, I don't believe this story is remotely new. During the later construction, the designers held a contest for children to design gargoyles. The third-place winner designed a Darth Vader figure. It was probably up when you visited.
Incidentally, it's perfectly in keeping with the practices of European and older American cathedrals, just much less old.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
FTA:
As Washington National Cathedral approached completion, the west towers rose towards the sky, striking toward heaven. During the building a startling idea was hatched: hold a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral.
Darth Vader Drawing
Word of the competition was spread nationwide through National Geographic World Magazine. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader, with his drawing of that fearful villain, Darth Vader. The fierce head was sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter, carved by Patrick J. Plunkett and placed high upon the northwest tower of the Cathedral...
To see pics, go here Google Image Search
You can also search on 'cathedral kid' in Google Images, the kid that drew it is about half way down.
When in doubt, use The Internet archive. It works wonders, and it archives images (unlike Google Cache).
Darth Vader at National Cathedral Mirror.
This isn't exactly news. This was done at least ten years ago. Darth Vader is a standard depiciton of evil. There is also a grotesque of Adolf Hitler on one of the towers at the National Cathedral (I live about a mile away from it...)
(It's true! Pity I don't have a link)
I do.
(Also see Google.)
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Slashdot -- if it's not a dupe, it's old, or ripped from The Register. Or all three.
For those that want to read the article but can't due to the slashdotting...
Darth Vader It's slow, but works,
Link brought to you by archive.org
Then here's the text only version...
About Darth Vader As Washington National Cathedral approached completion, the west towers rose towards the sky, striking toward heaven. During the building a startling idea was hatched: hold a competition for children to design decorative sculpture for the Cathedral.
Darth Vader Drawing (img.)
Word of the competition was spread nationwide through National Geographic World Magazine. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader, with his drawing of that fearful villain, Darth Vader. The fierce head was sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter, carved by Patrick J. Plunkett and placed high upon the northwest tower of the Cathedral...
Newspaper Clipping (img.)
Darth Vader Location (img.)
To Find Darth Vader you have to leave the building through the ramp entrance. This is located at the northwest corner of the nave, through the double wooden doors of Lincoln Bay. Go down the ramp, and step into the parking lot. Then, turn around and look back up at the tower closest to you. He is almost impossible to see without the assistance of binoculars.
Way way way up, almost at the top of the tower is a gablet, or small peaked roof, located between the two huge louvered arches. At the bottom of each slope of this gablet is a carved grotesque. Darth Vader is on the north, or right-hand, side. There is a carved skull situated on a gablet much closer to the ground which many people often mistake for Darth Vader. From this skull, Darth Vader is up and to the left.
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
This is correct; I lived pretty close to the cathedral for a few years; gorgeous place. The Vader sculpture isn't just out of the way; it's very high on one of the outside walls on the side of the building. Even with small binoculars, it's difficult to find if you haven't seen it before. It's been there for years and, yes, was the result of a grade school competition. During the renovation, there were pamphlets that directed you how to find the sculpture. I don't know if they still pass them out (I've moved) but anyone that works there could probably point it out to you.