A Kentucky cathedral called 'America's Notre Dame' gets a rehab, gargoyles and all

Unlike the Paris landmark, which recently underwent a massive renovation because of a sudden and devastating fire, the Covington cathedral needed a rehab due to the slow deterioration of old stone, metal and terra cotta after 125 years of exposure to the elements in its Ohio River city across from Cincinnati.

“We consider ourselves blessed to be able to ensure the cathedral is taken care of for coming generations,” said Assumption’s rector, the Very Rev. Ryan Maher.

Workers have been painstakingly repairing and replacing tons of Indiana limestone. The new gargoyles are replicas based on meticulous scans of the 32 worn originals.

Workers aim to complete the two-year restoration by March. The finishing touch will be the installation of new 26 chimeras along the rooftop. These grotesque creatures, similar to gargoyles, are exact replicas of their weathered predecessors.

“It’s hard to believe that you’re able to replicate a piece that was built a hundred years ago by men that are no longer with us,” said Brian Walter, executive vice president of Trisco Systems, the prime contractor for the restoration.

Restoration expert says work is both 'an art and a science'

Workers have faced numerous challenges throughout the project: hoisting and fitting heavy stones into the façade while operating cranes above a busy street in the heat, cold and wind. They have been patching and fixing what they can and replacing other parts entirely.

“It’s an art and a science that’s passed down from generation to generation,” Walter said. “Every part of it is challenging.”

Those challenges began long before the materials even arrived at the cathedral, for a project involving architects, stonecutters, terra cotta artists and more.

Workers made precise scans of deteriorated finials, arches, balustrades and other architectural elements so stonecutters could make exact matches. Organizers sourced stone from Bedford, Indiana, where limestone for the original cathedral was quarried.

Over the generations, the cathedral has had several renovations and overhauls, with exterior statues added in 2019.

But Maher knew a comprehensive exterior renovation was needed when, in 2018, he found a large, fallen piece of stone — evidence of a wider deterioration.

This time, workers used more durable stainless steel pins and brackets to secure the stone and replace the original carbon steel, which had rusted.

Bishop in a small city had big ambition

The cathedral opened in 1901, following a multiyear construction campaign by the Belgian-born Bishop Camillus Paul Maes, head of the Diocese of Covington and an admirer of the French Gothic style.

While the exterior is modeled on Notre Dame, it has adaptations. It is just under half of the Paris cathedral’s size, lacking the original’s twin towers and featuring a narrower but still imposing façade. The high-vaulted interior, bathed in light from large stained-glass windows, is modeled on another landmark Paris cathedral, Saint-Denis.

The ambition was striking, cathedral historian Stephen Enzweiler said. The city then had just over 40,000 people, similar to its population today.

“At the time, no one had ever heard of Covington,” Enzweiler said.

Maes wanted a sanctuary large enough to accommodate the rapidly growing immigrant Catholic population and grand enough to fulfill the medieval vision of a cathedral that would “represent heaven on earth,” he said.

The cathedral was part of a larger Gothic revival happening around the turn of the century that also saw the emergence of such landmark cathedrals as St. Patrick’s and St. John the Divine in New York.

“This is a smaller version of that revival of French Gothic in America, done at a very high level in a little town at the time, of surprisingly high quality,” said Duncan Stroik, an architect, professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame and author of “The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence and the Eternal.”

“It shows the talent of the bishop, the architect and the craftsmen,” he said.

Comparing the Gothic features of the Kentucky and Paris cathedrals

Ironically, some of that Gothic revival wasn’t quite as medieval as it may seem. The movement drew strong influence from the mid-19th century renovation of the Paris cathedral after the popular novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” called attention to its deterioration.

Notre Dame's renovation architect, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, added new elements such as the gargoyle-like chimeras on the rooftop. Unlike the gargoyles on Notre Dame, which double as rainspouts, the Covington sanctuary's fantastical creatures are purely decorative.

Theories vary about the medieval intent behind the gargoyles. Were they to ward off evil spirits? Did they represent the demonic realm outside the sanctuary of the church? Were they allegorical figures for morality lessons? Or simply the imaginative fruits of medieval craftsmen?

In modern times, gargoyles and chimeras have often become objects of endearment — portrayed by Disney as animated comic sidekicks and replicated in miniature as bookends, figurines and garden art. The Covington cathedral’s newsletter is named the Gargoyle Gazette.

The renovation price tag is $7.8 million, most of which has been raised. More than 2,000 donors contributed, along with foundations, Maher said.

“It was kind of an easy sell, because of what the cathedral means to not only our parishioners but to the whole community,” he said.

The goal is to maintain the cathedral as a sanctuary for years to come.

“When everything is upside down, this is a place of people where people can experience the calm of the Lord,” Maher said.

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