trafalgar square

Trafalgar Square

plaza in the City of Westminster, London, named for Lord Nelson's naval victory (1805) in the Battle of Trafalgar. Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Seven major arteries pump automobiles around the great paved space, which is dominated by Nelson's Column (1839-43), a 185-foot- (56-metre-) high monument to Lord Nelson that includes a 17-foot- (5-metre-) high statue of him by E.H. Baily. At the corners of the column's plinth are four bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer and cast by Baron Marochetti.

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