No.43-1GOTHIC FIGURES ON CHARTRES CATHEDRAL（沙特尔大教堂的哥特式雕像）Courtesy of Pratt Institute
The gargoyles were carved in the shapes of the queerest animals you can think of.Some have heads like monkeys，some have three heads，some have their tongues sticking out as if they were making faces.Some have claws like eagles，others hands like men.
The queer animals that weren’t made to gargle are called grotesques.Most of them are up near the roof like the gargoyles and seem to be looking down and laughing at the people on the ground.The sculptors on the old cathedrals must have enjoyed carving their grotesques and gargoyles.
No.43-2GROTESQUE ON CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME IN PARIS（巴黎圣母院主教座堂屋顶上的怪物雕像）
【中文阅读】
那些拿着锤子见到雕像就砸的人，应该叫他们什么呢？他们甚至冲进教堂砸雕像。我们可能会说他们是坏人，是疯子，应该逮捕他们。
说得对。事情要是发生在今天，他们一定会被关进监狱。但在很久以前（约公元800年），他们并非坏人或疯子，也没人要抓捕他们。他们认为雕像太偶像化，所以要打碎。他们又认为教堂里尤其不应该有偶像或任何形象。希腊语中，“形象”一词有“偶像”之意。所以那帮人被称作“偶像破坏者”，意思是粉碎形象者。这些人砸碎了许多雕像。而可怜的雕刻家们要想继续制作雕像的话，就不得不逃离偶像破坏者所在的城镇。
然而，这些破坏者似乎并不在意小浮雕。所以那时以及后来的许多岁月里，雕刻家用象牙、金、银刻了许多精美的浅浮雕。如通常用于书的封面、写字板和小盒子上的象牙浮雕。如今只有在博物馆才能看到它们，因为都被小心翼翼地存放在玻璃橱窗里。我们在欣赏时，想一想那些破坏者，就会意识到为什么罗马之后很长时间不见好的圆雕作品出现。
为躲避破坏者，有些雕刻家不得不离开拜占庭——后来叫君士坦丁堡，现在叫伊斯坦布尔。他们流亡法国，在那里继续创作。他们正是去了法国后，才为我们开创了伟大雕像的新篇章。这些雕像属于中世纪，晚于破坏者几百年后创作的。奇怪的是，这些雕像又是为教堂雕刻的，而这显然是破坏者不愿意看到的！事实上，教堂的石雕都很简陋，材料就是建教堂的石头，不像古希腊罗马用大理石雕像。但石雕确是教堂不可分割的组成部分。法国沙特尔大教堂有不少于一万座人物和动物雕像。这些雕像遍布教堂的每个角落，像门道口、立柱上、屋顶上、窗檐下或墙壁上。就连排水口都雕刻了许多稀奇古怪的动物像。
中世纪时，多数人不会读写，所以就用教堂雕像取代书本，讲述《圣经》和圣徒的故事。因此，它们不但具备观赏性，还具有实用性。
由于中世纪教堂都呈哥特式风格，所以就称这些雕刻为“哥特式雕像”。大教堂里哥特式雕像刻画的是我们所能想到的所有生物，像《圣经》场景、圣徒像、动物像和花饰等，还有四季风景、农作、写作、伐木，甚至战斗等不同种类的石刻画。此外，像男女雕像、已知和奇怪的未知生物雕像等，每一座都为教堂的特定位置而设计。这些石雕不是在教堂建好后才放上去的，它们本就是教堂的一部分，它们既作建材，又是雕像。
还记得我们嗓子痛要漱口的情形吗？在哥特式教堂，有些雕像也会漱口。当然，雕像喉咙不会痛，它们是因天下雨而漱口。其实雕像上的洞口是出水槽，让雨水从洞口流出。同那些讲述《圣经》故事的雕像一样，这些排水的雕像同时具有观赏性和实用性。我们把这种雕像称作“滴水兽”。这是漱口雕像的另一种说法。
滴水兽的形状是你能想象的各种千奇百怪的动物。有些滴水兽是猴头状的，有的长着三个头，还有的伸出长长的舌头，像在做鬼脸。还有一些雕像长着像鹰那样的爪子，也有的像人手。
那些不排水的动物像也刻得奇形怪状，通称“怪物雕像”。像滴水兽一样，它们大多安置在屋顶旁，好像在往下看，嘲笑地面上的人们。这些古教堂的雕刻家们一定很喜欢雕刻怪物和滴水兽吧。
THE GATES OF PARADISE
天国之门
THIS story begins with a competition.Not a competition to see who could run fastest，not a competition to see who could whistle loudest，but a much harder one.It was such a hard competition that each man in it was given a year in which to try to win.
It was a competition in sculpture.It began this way：In Florence，Italy，there is a little eight-sided building called the Baptistery.A baptistery is a place where babies，or even grown-ups，are baptized.This building has four doorways in it and one of these doorways at the time of the competition had a very beautiful pair of bronze doors with reliefs on them made by the sculptor Andrea Pisano.Long after Andrea Pisano’s death the men of Florence decided there should be another pair of bronze doors for one of the other doorways.
There were several good sculptors living then and the men of Florence could not decide who was the best one to make the new doors，and so they had the competition.These were the rules：
Each sculptor had to make a relief in bronze to go on a door.The relief had to be about Abraham and Isaac.
Each sculptor could have a year for the work and then a group of thirty-four judges would decide the winner and the winner would make the doors.
All the sculptors set to work.All，except one，very carefully kept every one else from seeing their work until the year was up.This one was named Lorenzo Ghiberti （Gee-bear’tee），and he worked and worked and then he asked his friends to come in and tell him how he could make his relief better.Then he worked some more until he had a very beautiful relief indeed.
When the year was up each sculptor brought his relief to the judges.And what do you think？The judges couldn’t decide which was the very best！There was a tie for first place.One of the winners was Ghiberti’s relief.The other was cast by the famous architect Brunelleschi （Brew-nel-less’kee）.But Brunelleschi himself thought Ghiberti’s relief was better than his own and so he very generously said he would withdraw and let Ghiberti be the winner.Then the judges said Ghiberti could make the doors.
Ghiberti set to work.He worked and worked.One year，two years，five years，ten years，and still he worked on the doors.You’ll hardly believe how long it took to makethem.I’ll tell you the date when he began and when he finished.He started to work on the reliefs in 1403.He finished the doors in 1424.
“What！”you say，“twenty-one years to make one pair of doors？That is a long time！”
No.44-1THE GATES OF PARADISE（《天国之门》）GHIBERTI（吉贝尔蒂制）
Finally the doors were finished and put in the Baptistery.They opened down the middle and had twenty-eight panels or scenes in relief，chiefly from the life of Christ.Each scene was made separately and then all fitted together.
Ghiberti’s doors “made a big hit.”Every one liked them so much that the men of Florence asked the sculptor if he wouldn’t make another pair of bronze doors for another doorway to the Baptistery.There was no need for a competition this time.They knew Ghiberti was the man for the job.
Ghiberti started on the new doors.He worked and worked and worked.One year，two years，five years，ten years，twenty years，and still he worked on the doors.He began on these doors in 1425.He finished them in 1452.What！Twenty-seven years to make one set of doors？That is a long time！
But this time，when he had finished，the doors were so splendid that many people said they were perfect.A famous sculptor saw them and said，“They are fit to be the gates of Paradise，”and that is what they have been called ever since—the Gates of Paradise.
The Gates of Paradise have ten scenes from the Old Testament.Here is a “close-up”of the fourth scene showing the story of AbrahamNo.44-2PANEL FROM THE GATES OF PARADISE（镶板浮雕，取自《天国之门》）GHIBERTI（吉贝尔蒂制）【中文阅读】