by Marie-Luise Stromer

Created on: January 09, 2011

When it comes to importance, Trafalgar Square, London, can be mentioned together with Tian An Men, Beijing, or the Red Square, Moscow. Situated in the heart of the city it’s a tourist attraction and known world-wide. It ranks as the fourth most popular tourist attraction on earth and is visited by more than 15 million tourists a year. Size-wise, however, a comparison would be ridiculous. You can nearly organise a day out if you want to walk round Tian An Men or the Red Square, whereas you can walk round Trafalgar Square in no time.

Trafalgar Square is owned by the Queen in Right of the Crown and is managed by the Greater London Authority. So, anyone interested in putting a foot on Royal Ground only has to go there. Btw, the original name was to be King William the Fourth’s Square, quite a mouthful. George Ledwell Taylor, an architect and landowner in London, suggested the name Trafalgar Square to commemorate the British victory in the Battle of Trafalgar from 1805 during the Napoleonic War.

Nowadays the central area is surrounded by roadways on three sides, to the east is Strand and South Africa House (and the underground station Charing Cross), to the south Whitehall, to the southwest the Admiralty Arch leading to the Mall, to the west Canada House. The street running in front of the National Gallery to the north has been closed to traffic since 2003. Now it’s possible to walk from Trafalgar Square up a wide flight of stairs to the National Gallery. There are also a lift and public toilets, all in all a vast improvement. Traffic was always dense, and it was no pleasure to cross the street, and the more toilets in public spaces, the better.

The centre piece and landmark of the square is the 51m-high Nelson’s column (the column is 46 m, the statue 5.5 m high) commemorating Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Admiral looks south towards the Palace of Westminster. It was built and erected between 1840 and 1843. Four huge bronze lions lie on the pedestal ‘inviting’ sportive tourists to climb up, sit on their backs and have a photo taken. It may be true or not that the lions are made from the recycled metal of French cannons.

The fountains on the square seem to have been included for aesthetic reasons right from the beginning when Trafalgar Square was built in 1845, but that was not the case. The square has always been a social and political meeting-point, not officially, however, no military parades here showing

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