An army of angels statues guard Notre-Dame-de-Reims cathedral. Yet, in some remote locations of its facades, toads, bats, snakes, dogs, and other contorted chimeras with human heads stand, reminding men of temptation. The stonemasons who designed them had almost complete creative latitude and were sometimes inspired by their relatives, real or invented animals, or even themselves. The numerous gargoyles of the cathedral serve to evacuate rainwater, but in 1914 they disgorged the molten lead from the roof following a German bombardment that set the monument on fire.