The Statue of Constantine the Great is a bronze statue depicting the Roman Emperor

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

seated on a throne, commissioned by

York Civic Trust York Civic Trust is a membership organisation and a registered charity based in York, UK. Its primary function is to "preserve, protect and advise on the historic fabric of York". It is based in Fairfax House. Foundation York Civic Trust was fo ...

and designed by the sculptor Philip Jackson. It was unveiled in 1998 and is situated on

Minster Yard Minster Yard is a street in the city centre of York, England. It runs along the southern, eastern and northeastern sides of York Minster, for which it is named. History The street may have originated as the courtyard of the headquarters buildi ...

, outside

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

. It commemorates the accession of Constantine as Roman Emperor in AD 306 on this site, after the death of his father

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius "Chlorus" ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 t ...

in York.

Description

The statue depicts a seated Constantine wearing military dress. His right arm is outstretched behind him and his left holds the pommel of a sword, the tip of which is shown to be broken. A legend inscribed on the base reads "Constantine by this sign conquer". This phrase is a translation of the latin ''

in hoc signo vinces "''In hoc signo vinces''" (, ) is a Latin phrase conventionally translated into English as "In this sign thou shalt conquer". The Latin phrase itself renders, rather loosely, the Greek phrase "", transliterated as "''en toútōi níka''" (, ...

''; a reference to a passage from the historian

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

of Caesaria, who recounts how Constantine was marching with his army and looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words "( ἐν) τούτῳ νίκα" ("In this, conquer"). File:Statue Constantin 1er York 18.jpg File:Statue Constantin 1er York 9.jpg Statue Constantin 1er York 13.jpg File:Constantine the Great Statue in York, commissioned in 1998 and sculptured by Philip Jackson, Eboracum, York, England (7643911290).jpg File:Emperor Constantine (4354858854).jpg File:Left hand (4354852490).jpg

Interactions with the statue

Yorkshire Day

The statue was one of several in York gagged by the

Yorkshire Party The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in Yorkshire, a historic county of England. Founded in 2014, it campaigns for the establishment of a devolved Yorkshire Parliament within the UK, with powers over education, environment, tran ...

Yorkshire Day Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration on 1 August to promote the historic county of Yorkshire, England. It was celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1975, initially in Beverley, as "a protest movement against the local government re- ...

(1 August) 2016 as part of a campaign to highlight the lack of devolved government in the region. On Yorkshire Day 2018 the statue was dressed in a

flat cap A flat cap is a rounded cap with a small stiff brim in front, originating in Britain and Ireland. The hat is known in Ireland as a paddy cap; in Scotland as a bunnet; in Wales as a Dai cap; and in the United States as an English cap, Irish cap ...

and given two chocolate themed props: a giant

Kit Kat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, United Kingdom, and is now produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United Stat ...

and

Terry's Chocolate Orange Terry's Chocolate Orange is a chocolate product created by Terry's in 1932 at Terry's Chocolate Works in York, England. The brand has changed ownership several times, and production was moved to Eastern Europe in 2005. Since 2018, the Terry' ...

Theft of sword

The statue's sword was stolen in September 2016. A homeless man, John Flanagan, was prosecuted for the damage – the sword had been kicked from the statue and then brandished by Flanagan before he deposited it in a drain. The restoration of the statue by

was undertaken in November 2016 and cost £783.

Coronavirus pandemic

The statue was found to be wearing a protective face mask during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

'Culture War'

In June 2020 the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' reported that the statue was 'under review' following complaints received by York Minster about Constantine's support of slavery in light of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement. In subsequent articles in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and the ''

York Press ''The Press'' is a local, daily, paid for, newspaper, for North and East Yorkshire. It is published in the City of York by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Gannett Company Inc. The ''Yorkshire Evening Press'' was established in 188 ...

'' it was reported that the York Minster had not received any complaints about the statue and that it was not specifically under review. ''The Guardian'' described the story as an "imaginary statue scandal" as part of a

culture war A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...

Popular culture

CD Projekt CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...

RED's card game, '' Gwent: The Witcher Card Game'', Nilfgaardian deck leader Emperor Jan Calveit's artwork by Lorenzo Mastroianni was inspired by this statue.

References

External links

Statue of Constantine the Great
at Waymarking.com {{Philip Jackson 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom 1998 sculptures Bronze sculptures in England Outdoor sculptures in England Cultural depictions of Constantine the Great Statues of monarchs Sculptures by Philip Jackson