More Notre Dame Cathedral gargoyles. I especially love that moss-covered owl.

It's interesting to me that, though the United States is the most devoutly religious nation on Earth, its religious art is, by and large, of the cloyingly tacky variety. Conversely, in Europe religion seems to have motivated a great many people to create a wide variety of art and architecture that most people still find beautiful today. And this comes in spite of the seeming casual attitude most Europeans now have for their religions. For example, though France is an overwhelmingly Catholic nation, people are clearly practicing birth control here. The evidence for this is on in streets: unlike, say, Park Slope, Brooklyn or uptown Manhattan, there are practically no babies being pushed around in strollers on Parisian streets.

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