Trafalgar Square

:For other places with the same name, see Trafalgar Square (disambiguation).

Overview

The square consists of a large central area surrounded by roadways on three sides, and stairs leading to the National Gallery on the other. The roads which cross the square form part of the busy A4 road, and prior to 2003, the square was surrounded by a one-way traffic system on all sides. Underpasses attached to Charing Cross underground station still allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Recent works have reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side of the square from traffic.

Related Topics:
National Gallery - A4 road - Charing Cross underground station

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Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, surrounded by fountains and four huge bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer; the metal used is said to have been recycled from the cannon of the French fleet. The column is topped by a statue of Lord Nelson, the admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar.

Related Topics:
Nelson's Column - Bronze - Lion - Sir Edwin Landseer - Statue - Lord Nelson - British Fleet - Trafalgar

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On the north side of the square is the National Gallery and to its east the St Martin's-in-the-Fields church. The square adjoins The Mall via Admiralty Arch to the southwest. To the south is Whitehall, to the east The Strand and South Africa House, to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side is Canada House.

Related Topics:
National Gallery - St Martin's-in-the-Fields - The Mall - Admiralty Arch - Whitehall - The Strand - South Africa House - Charing Cross Road - Canada House

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At the corners of the square are four plinths; the two northern ones were intended to be used for equestrian statues, and thus are wider than the two southern. Three of them hold statues: George IV (northeast, 1840s), Henry Havelock (southeast, 1861, by William Behnes), and Sir Charles James Napier (southwest, 1855). Mayor of London Ken Livingstone controversially expressed a desire to see these replaced with statues of people more relevant to the 21st century.

Related Topics:
Plinth - Equestrian statue - Statue - George IV - 1840s - Henry Havelock - 1861 - William Behnes - Charles James Napier - 1855 - Ken Livingstone - 21st century

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In 1888 the statue of General Charles George Gordon was erected. In 1943 the statue was removed and re-sited on the Victoria Embankment in 1953.

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The Square has become an enormously important symbolic social and political location for visitors and Londoners alike, developing over its history from "an esplanade peopled with figures of national heroes, into the country’s foremost place politique," as historian Rodney Mace has written. Its symbolic importance was demonstrated in 1940 when the Nazi S.S. developed secret plans to transfer the Nelson Column to Berlin following an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in If Britain Had Fallen (1972).

Related Topics:
Rodney Mace - Nazi - Berlin - German - Norman Longmate

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