St. George on the World War I Memorial – Leeds, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 47.991 W 001° 32.854
30U E 595659 N 5962231
This statue of St. George slaying the dragon is on the side of the World War I memorial in Victoria Square.
Waymark Code: WME9QB
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/23/2012
Views: 3
St. George
St. George was a Christian Roman soldier from Palestine, who reached the rank of Tribunus in the Guard of the emperor Diocletian.
In AD 302 Diocletian issued an edict against Christians in the army and insisted that every 2nd one should renounce their faith and offer a sacrifice to the Roman Gods.
George appealed to the Emperor to reverse this decision, but Diocletian refused and tried to persuade George to do as he asked. When George refused Diocletian had him tortured and then decapitated in Nicomedia on April 23rd AD 303. This act by George persuaded Empress Alexandra and Athanasius a pagan priest to convert to Christianity and they too were martyred.
George’s body was returned to Palestine, and soon many Christians came to honour him as a martyr.
St. George is associated with the slaying of a dragon, a tale that was brought back from the Crusades in the Medieval period.
St George’s feast day is the 23rd April, the day on which he was martyred. He is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Westernand Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches.
He is also one of the most prominent military saints and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who each guard against diseases. In the case of St. George he protects the health of domestic animals.
He is usually portrayed slaying a dragon, often with a lance, or sometimes a sword. He also wears the Cross of St George, or sometimes it appears on his shield.
He is the Patron Saint of England, Georgia, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania,Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, the Maltese Island of Gozo and a number of large cities.
He is represented with the cross of St. George, a red cross on a white background. This has been adopted as the flag of England, Republic of Genoa, Liguria, Georgia, Catalonia, Aragon and other places.
The Statue on the war memorial
Because of the scales on a dragon’s upper body it is a formidable opponent, but does have a weakness, in that the scales do not extend underneath its wings.
Legend has it that Saint George initially wounded the dragon in the soft under part beneath the wings before finishing it off with a killing blow to the neck.
In this version of the statue, a spear with a broken shaft can be seen in the dragon’s side. Saint George, is standing on the prone dragon, sword in one hand, shield in the other, with the dragon’s tongue hanging from the dragon’s mouth.
The tunic of St. George has his cross on the front of it.
Saint George is the patron saint of both England and soldiers and hence the use of him on this memorial to represents war. This may also explain why this statue is more graphic than normal
The architect of the memorial was Sir Reginald Blomfield and the sculptor was H C Fehr.
Associated Religion(s): Christian
Statue Location: Victoria Square
Entrance Fee: None
Artist: H.C. Fehr
Website: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the statue. A waymarker and/or GPSr is not required to be in the image but it doesn't hurt.