Sentius Tectonicus

Towering over the Tyne at Segedunum is Sentius Tectonicus, a larger than life Roman centurion soldier who stands at the eastern outpost of Hadrian's Wall.

He's a fine figure of a man, dressed in weathering steel and standing smart at eight and a half feet high! Look at the bronze hues of his skin — a hat tip to his Roman heritage and the industrial past of this swathe of the river.

Containing 575 different components and weighing in at over three tonnes, Sentius Tectonicus is an architectural giant.

He took several months to construct. Look how his strong form rises from a four story building on a framework over Roman arches.

Typically, the artist creates sculptures with interior spaces, hollow bodies, and places a small door at the bottom, allowing travel through the architectural spaces of the sculpture to the head. He believes that this symbolises divinity within our being.

Many of the artist's sculptures contain his trademark door, and this one is no exception. He states that “The lower architectural half of the sculpture has an entrance in the bottom floor. A ladder within that interior leads to the second level's hidden room, and this continues up to the fourth storey. In that unseen chamber, there is a sealed stainless steel container with unknown contents, to remain hidden and unopened.”

So, Tectonicus is a time machine too?

Looking at Sentius Tectonicus, I see strength and solidity.

Check out his broad shoulders and the commitment in his face, many layers of steel placed to replicate the bone, muscle, skin and sinew of a human face.

The artist who designed and made this is Newcastle-based John O'Rourke.

He said “From the outset my concept for this sculpture was to create a soldier on the one hand, but also a spiritual warrior. I also wanted to construct a form which acted as a broader symbolic statement, alluding somehow to the region's past, present and future. Wallsend's more recent history revolved around the shipbuilding industry. Making a figure which adopted industrial materials and fabrication methods ensures that the work's structural and material substance forges those links.”

Commissioned by North Tyneside Council and unveiled in 2017, this mammoth rusted Roman Centurion was created to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of Emperor Hadrian's reign in Northumberland, during which time he focused on creating the construction of his eponymously named wall, curling 73 miles across the county as a defensive fortification and marking the northernmost outposts of the Roman province of Britannia. The unveiling of the sculpture also coincided with the 30 year anniversary of Hadrian's Wall having been given UNESCO World Heritage status.

The wall started from both ends simultaneously, Bowness on Solway being the western edge, and central Newcastle (Pons Aelius) being the eastern end.

The Roman fort of Segedunum was added some five years later in AD127 to guard the mouth of the River Tyne. At the pinnacle, Segedunum would have housed up to 600 Roman troops including cavalrymen and infantry.

Today, Sentius Tectonicus packs a powerful punch, looming over the remains of the fort...

and standing sentry over the Tyne.

The centurion's name is derived from an inscription that was discovered close to the site of Segedunum, which revealed that a soldier called Sentius was in charge of supervising the troops to build the wall at Segedunum.

The term Tectonicus represents his architectural torso emerging from a Roman four story building.

Tectonicus is Latin and comes from the Greek term 'tektonikos' - relating to building or construction. Geologically, it refers to the structure and shaping of the earth's crust.

He is well named. His upper body looks like it is made from many plates, knitted together to form his strength and solemnity.

He appears to be well and truly anchored and rising from the very foundations of the Roman Empire.

The sculpture is made using the very techniques of engineering and welding previously prevalent amongst the shipbuilding industry located on this part of the Tyne.

Made from high quality steel and manufactured with precision, I'm sure Sentius Tectonicus will stand to tell the tales of many more years of North East history.