Trafalgar Square & Nelson's Column

Nelson stands 51.5 metres above the pigeons, perpetually gazing toward the Admiralty and the sea he dominated. The column was built between 1840 and 1843 from Dartmoor granite — a last-minute change from sandstone — and topped with an 5.5-metre statue of the admiral carved from sandstone by Edward Hodges Baily. The whole thing was funded by public subscription after a committee of 121 peers and MPs, chaired by the Duke of Wellington himself, selected William Railton's Corinthian column design.

The four bronze lions at the base didn't arrive until 1867, more than two decades after the column was finished. Sir Edwin Landseer, the animal painter, designed them, and they were cast from melted-down French cannons. Look closely and you'll notice the lions are anatomically questionable — Landseer used a dead lion from London Zoo as his model, and critics at the time said they looked more like large domestic cats.

The square itself occupies what was once the King's Mews, where royal hawks and later horses were kept. It was redesigned in the 1830s by architect John Nash and named after Nelson's greatest victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The bronze reliefs around the column's base depict four of Nelson's naval victories, cast from captured French and Spanish cannons.

The Fourth Plinth in the northwest corner was originally intended for an equestrian statue that was never commissioned due to lack of funds. Since 1999, it has hosted a rotating series of contemporary artworks, turning an empty plinth into one of the most prominent public art commissions in the world. The square draws around fifteen million visitors annually.