{"id":768091,"date":"2026-06-29T16:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768091\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:13:11","slug":"york-minster-inspired-grotesque-sculptures-installed-around-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768091\/","title":{"rendered":"York Minster-inspired grotesque sculptures installed around city"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A sculpture trail inspired by York Minster&#8217;s stone grotesques has opened in the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Watchers of York features 12 sculptures designed and painted by a mix of established artists, charities and students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The sculptures &#8211; a combination of people, animals and mythical creatures &#8211; have been placed around the city to form a trail until 31 August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Make It York, a firm owned by City of York Council to deliver tourism and cultural activities, produced the trail alongside York Minster to celebrate the &#8220;quirky charm&#8221; of the Gothic cathedral&#8217;s statues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The carvings, found on many cathedrals and churches, were often installed as decorative elements or intended to protect the building from evil spirits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They are sometimes confused with gargoyles, which look similar but contain a water spout through the mouth and act as rain gutters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Discussing the trail grotesques, a Make It York spokesperson said: &#8220;Some watch over the rivers, others guard green spaces and gateways.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Several keep an eye on the city&#8217;s historic streets.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">All connect and are inspired by the city&#8217;s &#8220;rich history, character and cultural identity&#8221;, the organisation added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The installations are all accompanied by information about the figures, including their origins, backstory and symbolism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sculpture trail inspired by York Minster&#8217;s stone grotesques has opened in the city. The Watchers of York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-768091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}