Trafalgar Square

In front of you is the square Londoners choose for celebrating, protesting and seeing in the New Year. Its name recalls the Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805 off the cape of that name on the coast near Cádiz. The British fleet defeated the Franco-Spanish one, but its admiral, Horatio Nelson, died on the deck of HMS Victory, hit by a musket ball.

1Nelson's Column

The square was laid out in the 1830s and 1840s to a plan by Charles Barry. The column, by William Railton, went up between 1840 and 1843 and stands about 52 metres high including the statue. Nelson looks south, towards the Admiralty and, beyond it, the sea. Around the base are four bronze reliefs showing scenes from his battles, among them his death at Trafalgar. The four lions, the work of the painter and sculptor Edwin Landseer, arrived in 1867.

2The Fourth Plinth

Look at the corners of the square. Three plinths carry statues of 19th-century kings and generals. The fourth stood empty for more than a century and a half for lack of money; since 1999 it has hosted works of contemporary art that change every year or two.

South of the square, the equestrian statue of Charles I marks the point from which distances to London are officially measured.

3What to look for

• Landseer's lions and the bronze reliefs on the base.
• The Fourth Plinth, in the north-west corner, with its current artwork.
• The National Gallery, at the top of the north steps.