Phoenix - Micklefield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 47.293 W 001° 20.862
30U E 608851 N 5961225
This sculpture of the mythical bird, the phoenix is at the corner of Phoenix Road that leads to Peckfield Business Park.
Waymark Code: WM146CH
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/28/2021
Views: 2
The Sculpture
The sculpture was commissioned by Leeds City Council when a new business park was created on the site of a former coal mine. It is intended to symbolise new business rising from the ashes of the old.
The half-tonne bird is the creation of Huddersfield artist and blacksmith Julian Wadsworth.
Finished in shining nickle plate, the six foot tall sculpture took three months to construct. Made of sections of forged steel welded together, the mythical bird was created by Julian in his Holme Mills workshop.
The Mythical Creature
The phoenix is a long-lived bird associated with Greek mythology (with analogs in many cultures) that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. In the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, a tool used by folklorists, the phoenix is classified as motif B32.
The origin of the phoenix has been attributed to Ancient Egypt by Herodotus and later 19th-century scholars, but other scholars think the Egyptian texts may have been influenced by classical folklore. Over time the phoenix motif spread and gained variety of new associations: Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. Over time, extending beyond its origins, the phoenix could variously "symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, the Empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, life in the heavenly Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional man, and certain aspects of Christian life". Some scholars have claimed that the poem De ave phoenice may present the mythological phoenix motif as a symbol of Christ's resurrection."
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