Constantine The Great Statue

On a recent trip to York I wandered past the minster and stumbled on a roman column and a statue to Constantine the Great. York has a plethora of history, however, the Roman era is slightly dominated by the 13th century minster, the medieval city walls and links to the vikings. The Roman era was just as significant and the proclamation of Constantine as Roman Emperor in 306 marked a massive turning point in Roman history. The bronze statue was created in 1998 by sculptor Philip Jackson who was also Royal Sculptor to Queen Elizabeth II. It depicts Constantine in military clothing, looking thoughtful and holding a broken sword which forms a cross, marking the end of his military campaigns and the embracing of Christianity in the western world.

Constantine the Great (reigned 306-337 AD) was best known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity in 312 and for strategically moving the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople. He proved to be someone with great leadership skills uniting the Roman Empire under one ruler, instead of under the Tetrarchy, and bringing back stability to the Roman world. During his reign he allowed Christians to worship freely and Christianity spread throughout the western world. He also introduced the idea of honouring Christ's birth, so we have him to thank for Christmas celebrations.

York Minster was built on top of the barracks of the fort of Eboracum in 1220, and so there is likely a lot of preserved remains under the cathedral. When work took place on the foundations of the minster in the late 1960s, they discovered the military headquarters, and you can see these remains today in the undercroft in the minster alongside some artifacts that were found there. During the work, they also discovered a column from the fortress lying on it's side, which was removed and put in place in the minster yard close to the statue of Constantine. There is a plaque on the column which states it was erected on the site to mark the 1900th anniversary of the founding of the city, and was relocated to the yard in 1971.

There are not a lot of other Roman remains visible in York, unfortunately. There are some bath remains at the aptly titled 'Roman Bath' pub and there are some remains in York Museum Gardens in the form of the Multangular Tower, impressively still standing since the reign of Constantine the Great. You can see this tower in the last picture. Other than that, not a lot remains of this era of history, but it's good to see Constantine in all of his glory outside the minster.