Photos

This is the statue of the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, which sits outside the southern entrance of York Minster. The Minster is visible in the left background. This gothic cathedral has many exceptional features, including the largest area of a single stained glass window anywhere in the world. The construction of the present building began in 1220.

The statue featured here was erected in 1998 near the place where Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of Rome by his troops, following the death of his father Constantinius, in A.D. 306.

Although it may not be entirely clear in this compressed version of the photo, there is a bee directly above the bird and the emperor's head. At the time, my interest had been in taking a photo of a rather proud-looking bird sitting on an emperor's head, but by pure chance, a bee happened to fly by at the right time and place, making the photo yet more interesting. There is thus vertical descendance from emperor to bird to bee.