Trafalgar Square Lions (Landseer's Lions) - Bob Speel's Website Landseer's Lion Statues in Trafalgar Square The famous statues of four lions in Trafalgar Square , surrounding Nelson's Column , are commonly known as the �Landseer Lions� after the artist who created them. It had not been intended that Landseer would sculpt the lions � the commission had gone first to the sculptor Thomas Milnes , now totally obscure, and he had made a set of four stone lions for the site. However, these were judged not impressive enough for the memorial to Nelson, and were in the end bought by Titus Salt, and sent to his village of Saltaire, where they remain today. So Edwin Landseer, the famous painter known above all for his dogs, and horses, was asked to design the lions in 1858. Landseer had in fact already made a series of paintings of lions, but was not a sculptor, but accepted the commission.

He worked slowly, and four years on, was still sketching them; in the words of the Art Journal, he: �was now very accurately studying the habits of lions, and was to be seen in the Zoological Gardens making himself thoroughly acquainted with their attitudes�. Landseer's lions from different perspectives . After another year, the Athenaeum was moved to write: �Look at the column of our Great Naval hero in Trafalgar Square. Every Sunday and holiday, it is the playing-place of a crowd of blackguard boys, who chase one another round and round the pedestal without a word being said to them. When the lions, which Sir Edwin Landseer has taken so many years to think about, are fixed in their places, they, no doubt, will greatly add to the amusements of the young urchins who now scramble over the various blocks of granite.� By this time there was criticism of Landseer for the excessive length of time which had gone past, some direct, some ironic: �The public was agreeably surprised during the past month to find a huge boarding placed round Trafalgar Square.

It was received as evidence that Sir Edwin Landseer had awakened from his sleep, and that the lions were about to be in their places. Soon, however, it was ascertained that the paviour [paving stone layer] and not the painter was busied in finishing the very ill-used locality, and the public was doomed to another disappointment.� In the event, it was only in 1866 that the first of the four lions was completed, and they were finally emplaced in 1867, almost a decade after Landseer had been awarded the commission. Landseer's lions, beloved of tourists and much climbed over . Almost a century and a half later though, the Trafalgar Square lions have become among the most popular of London�s statues ( see this page for a list of the others), and as predicted by the Athenaeum in 1863, they are indeed being continually climbed upon, though by tourists and native Londoners rather than merely �urchins�. The view above shows the top end of Whitehall as a backdrop. Lion statue with Canada House behind .

The Trafalgar Square lion statues are not identical, though their sitting positions (�couchant� in heraldic terms) with front paws symmetrically forward, and tails curled elegantly around and by their sides, are the same, for they differ in the detail of mane and face. Despite their great size, among the largest of bronze sculptures in the country, they are dwarfed by Nelson�s column, which is thicker at the base than they are long, and despite their raised up position, each on a great plinth, they are easily concealed behind the other sculpture in the Square or by each other, so that from most vantages we see typically just two of them. Their positions, pointing outwards at the corners of a square, mean that the lions can be appreciated in front of a variety of splendid backdrops. Three of the four Lions Lion statues are of course extremely common in British sculpture, but apart from one � that by the sculptor George Simonds in Reading � there are none so large as the Trafalgar Square specimens. Lots of examples of lion statues are to be found on a separate page on this site . Landseer Lion, Big Ben, London bus - typical iconic view .

Trafalgar Square | London Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia North view of Trafalgar Square. One of the four lions guarding Nelson's Column . Trafalgar Square is a square in central London . With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; its trademark is Nelson's Column which stands in the centre and the four lion statues that guard the column. Statues and sculptures are on display in the square, including a fourth plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art, and it is a site of political demonstrations. The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square". The northern area of the square had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I, while the southern end was the original Charing Cross , where the Strand from the City met Whitehall , coming north from Westminster . As the midpoint between these twin cities, Charing Cross is to this day considered the heart of London, from which all distances are measured.

In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845. Contents Edit 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 A4 road, and prior to 2003, the square was surrounded by a one-way traffic system. Underpasses attached to Charing Cross tube station allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Recent works have reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side of the square to traffic. Trafalgar Square viewed from the north. Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, surrounded by fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1939 (replacing two earlier fountains of Peterhead granite, now at the Wascana Centre and Confederation Park in Canada) 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 Horatio, Viscount Nelson, the admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar. The fountains are memorials to Lord Jellicoe (western side) and Lord Beatty (eastern side), Jellicoe being the Senior Officer. On the north side of the square is the National Gallery and to its east St Martin-in-the-Fields church. The square adjoins The Mall via Admiralty Arch to the southwest. To the south is Whitehall , to the east Strand and South Africa House , to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side Canada House . At the corners of the square are four plinths; the two northern ones were intended 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 the two generals replaced with statues "ordinary Londoners would know".

On the lawn in front of the National Gallery are two statues, James II to the west of the entrance portico and George Washington to the east. The latter statue, a gift from the state of Virginia, stands on soil imported from the United States. This was done in order to honour Washington's declaration he would never again set foot on British soil. In 1888 the statue of General Charles George Gordon was erected. In 1943 the statue was removed and, in 1953, re-sited on the Victoria Embankment. A bust of the Second World War First Sea Lord Admiral Cunningham by Franta Belsky was unveiled in Trafalgar Square on 2 April 1967 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Square has become a 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 SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin following an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in If Britain Had Fallen (1972). Fourth plinth Edit The fourth plinth on the northwest corner, designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841, was intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained empty due to insufficient funds. Later, agreement could not be reached over which monarch or military hero to place there. In 1999, the Royal Society of Arts conceived the Fourth Plinth Project, which temporarily occupied the plinth with a succession of works commissioned from three contemporary artists.

These were: Ecce Homo, by Mark Wallinger (1999) Regardless of History, by Bill Woodrow (2000) Monument, by Rachel Whiteread (2001) Wallinger's Ecce Homo – the Latin title of which means "Behold the man", a reference to the words of Pontius Pilate at the trial of Jesus Christ (John 19:5) – was a life-sized figure of Christ, naked apart from a loin cloth, with his hands bound behind his back and wearing a crown of barbed wire (in allusion to the crown of thorns). Atop the huge plinth, designed for larger-than-life statuary, it looked minuscule. Some commentators said that, far from making the man look insignificant, his apparent tininess drew the eye powerfully; they interpreted it as a commentary on human delusions of grandeur. Whiteread's Monument, by an artist already notable for her controversial Turner Prize-winning work House and the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial in Vienna, was a cast of the plinth in transparent resin, and placed upside-down on top of the original. Following the exhibition project, some wished to see it continue in this role.

Various companies have used the plinth (often without permission) as a platform for publicity stunts, including a model of David Beckham by Madame Tussauds during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The London-based American harmonica player Larry Adler jokingly suggested erecting a statue of Moby-Dick, which would then be called the "Plinth of Whales". A television ident for the British TV station Channel 4 shows a CGI Channel 4 logo on top of the fourth plinth. The best use of the fourth plinth remains the subject of debate. On 24 March 2003 an appeal was launched by Wendy Woods, the widow of the anti-apartheid journalist Donald Woods, hoping to raise £400,000 to pay for a nine-foot high statue of Nelson Mandela by Ian Walters. The relevance of the location is that South Africa House, the South African high commission, scene of many anti-apartheid demonstrations, is on the East side of Trafalgar Square.

A committee convened to consider the RSA's late-1990s project concluded that it had been a success and "unanimously recommended that the plinth should continue to be used for an ongoing series of temporary works of art commissioned from leading national and international artists". After several years in which the plinth stood empty, the new Greater London Authority assumed responsibility for the fourth plinth and started its own series of changing exhibitions: Marc Quinn: Alison Lapper Pregnant (unveiled 15 September 2005) – a 3.6-m, 13-t marble torso-bust of Alison Lapper, an artist who was born with no arms and shortened legs due to a condition called phocomelia. Thomas Schütte: Model for a Hotel 2007 (formerly Hotel for the Birds) (unveiled 7 November 2007) – a 5-m by 4.5-m by 5-m architectural model of a 21-storey building made from coloured glass. The work cost £270,000 and was funded primarily by the Mayor of London and the Arts Council of England.

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery and chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group that recommended Quinn's and Schütte's proposals to the Mayor in 2004, has said: "There will be something extraordinarily sensual about the play of light through the coloured glass. ... [I]t's going to feel like a sculpture of brilliance and light." In February 2008, Terry Smith, the chief executive of trading house Tullett Prebon, offered to pay more than £100,000 for a permanent statue acceptable to "ordinary Londoners" of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park in recognition of his work as commander of No. 11 Group RAF during the Battle of Britain, as it was this Group that was responsible for the defence of London. A Greater London Authority spokesman said: "There are many worthy suggestions for statues on the fourth plinth and some people feel passionately about each of them. All proposals will be judged on their merits including its current use as one of the most high profile sites for contemporary public art in London. The cost of erecting the current work on the plinth is £270,000.

The cost of a permanent monument is likely to be considerably more." Pigeons flocking to London's Trafalgar Square, 2006. As at 2008 the pigeons have largely gone. Pigeons Edit The square is a tourist spot in London, and used to be famous for its pigeons (Rock Pigeons). Feeding the pigeons was a popular activity with Londoners and tourists. The National Portrait Gallery displays a 1948 photograph of Elizabeth Taylor posing there with bird seed so as to be mobbed by birds. The desirability of the birds' presence has long been contentious: their droppings look ugly on buildings and damage the stonework, and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered to be a health hazard. In 1996, police arrested one man who was estimated to have trapped 1,500 birds for sale to a middleman; it is assumed that the birds ended up in the human food chain.

In 2000, the sale of bird seed in the square was controversially terminated and other measures were introduced to discourage the pigeons, including the use of trained falcons. Supporters of the birds – including Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons – as well as some tourists continued to feed the birds, but, in 2003, Ken Livingstone enacted byelaws to ban the feeding of pigeons within the square. On 10 September 2007 the byelaws were secured sealing an outright ban on feeding birds in area of the square. There are now few birds in Trafalgar Square and it is used for festivals and hired out to film companies, in a way that was not feasible in the 1990s. Redevelopment Edit Members of the public read plans to pedestrianise part of the square, February 2003. In 2003 the redevelopment of the north side of the square was completed. The work involved permanently closing the main eastbound road there - diverting it around the rest of the square and demolishing part of the wall and building a wide set of stairs.

This construction includes two Saxon scissor lifts for disabled access, public toilets, and a small café. Plans for a large staircase had long been discussed, even in original plans for the square. The new stairs lead to a large terrace or piazza in front of the National Gallery, in what was previously a road. Previously access between the square and the Gallery was via two busy crossings at the north east and north west corners of the square. The pedestrianisation plan was carried out in the face of protests from both road-users and pedestrians concerned that the diversion of traffic would lead to greater congestion elsewhere in London. However, this does not seem to have happened; the reduction in traffic due to the London congestion charge may be a factor. Christmas ceremony Edit There has been a Christmas ceremony every year since 1947. A Norway Spruce (or sometimes a fir) is given by Norway's capital Oslo and presented as London's Christmas tree, as a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II.

(Besides the general war support, Norway's Prince Olav, as well as the country's government, lived in exile in London throughout the war.) As part of the tradition, the Lord Mayor of Westminster visits Oslo in the late autumn to take part in the felling of the tree, and the Mayor of Oslo then comes to London to light the tree at the Christmas ceremony. Political demonstrations Edit A demonstration in Trafalgar Square. Since its construction, Trafalgar Square has been a venue for political demonstrations, though the authorities have often attempted to ban them. The 1939 fountains were allegedly added on their current scale to reduce the possibility of crowds gathering in the square as they were not in the original plans. By March of the year Nelson's column opened, the authorities had started banning Chartist meetings in the square. A general ban on political rallies remained in effect until the 1880s, when the emerging Labour movement, particularly the Social Democratic Federation, began holding protests there. On "Black Monday" (8 February 1886), protesters rallied against unemployment; this led to a riot in Pall Mall.

A larger riot (called "Bloody Sunday") occurred in the square on 13 November 1887. One of the first significant demonstrations of the modern era was held in the square on 19 September 1961 by the Committee of 100, which included the philosopher Bertrand Russell. The protesters rallied for peace and against war and nuclear weapons. Throughout the 1980s, a continuous anti-apartheid protest was held outside of South Africa House. More recently, the square has hosted the Poll Tax Riots (1990) and anti-war demonstrations opposing the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war. The Square was also scene to a large vigil held shortly after the terrorist bombings in London on Thursday 7 July 2005. Sports events Edit On 21 June 2002, 12,000 people gathered in the square to watch the England national football team's World Cup quarter-final against Brazil on giant video screens which had been erected specially for the occasion.

In the early 21st century, Trafalgar Square has become the location to the climax for victory parades; firstly for the England national rugby union team to celebrate victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup on December 9, 2003, and then on September 13, 2005, when the climax of the victory parade for the England national cricket team's victory against the Australia national cricket team in The Ashes took place there. In 6 July 2005 Trafalgar Square was a gathering place for many London citizens to hear the announcement that they will host the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2007, Trafalgar Square hosted the opening ceremonies of the Tour de France. VE Day celebrations Edit Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was 8 May 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Trafalgar Square was filled with British subjects wanting to hear the formal announcement by Sir Winston Churchill that the war was over.

Trafalgar Square was used as a place of celebration and people from all over the country came there. On Sunday 8 May 2005 the BBC held a concert to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VE Day which was hosted by Eamonn Holmes and Natasha Kaplinsky. Many people who lived during the war attended, and many of the much younger generation, but most importantly many old veterans came and told the stories of their hardships during the six years of war. New Year events Edit For many years, revellers celebrating the start of a New Year have gathered on the square, despite a lack of civic celebrations being arranged for them. The lack of official events in the square was partly because the authorities were concerned that actively encouraging more partygoers would cause overcrowding. Hogmanay at Edinburgh, Scotland has instead been the focus for British New Year celebrations, although since 2005, a firework display centred on London Eye and the South Bank of the Thames , near the square, has given spectators a fitting start to the New Year. Access Nearest London Underground stations: Charing Cross - Northern and Bakerloo Lines) — has an exit in the square.

The two lines originally had separate stations, of which the Bakerloo Line one was called Trafalgar Square; they were linked and renamed in 1979 as part of the construction of the Jubilee Line , which was later rerouted elsewhere. Leicester Square - Northern and Piccadilly lines) Bus routes running through Trafalgar Square: 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 24, 29, 53, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176, 453 Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square North view of Trafalgar Square. One of the four lions guarding Nelson's Column. Trafalgar Square is a square in central London , England . With its position in the heart of London, it is a popular tourist attraction; its trademarks are Nelson's Column, which stands in the centre, the four lion statues that guard the Column, and the large number of pigeons that live in the square.

Other statues and sculptures are also on display in the square, including a fourth plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art, and it is a frequent site of political demonstrations. The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars . The original name was to have been " King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square". The northern area of the square had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I , while the southern end was the original Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City met Whitehall, coming north from Westminster. As the midpoint between these twin cities, Charing Cross is to this day considered the heart of London, from which all distances today are measured. In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845. Overview Trafalgar Square viewed from the north.

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 tube station allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Recent works have reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side of the square to traffic. Nelson's Column is in the centre of the square, surrounded by fountains designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1939 (replacing two earlier fountains of Peterhead granite, now at the Wascana Centre and Confederation Park in Canada) 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 Horatio, Viscount Nelson , the admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar . 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 Strand and South Africa House, to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side Canada House. 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 the two generals replaced with statues "ordinary Londoners would know". On the lawn in front of the National Gallery are two statues, James II to the west of the entrance portico and George Washington to the east. The latter statue, a gift from the state of Virginia, stands on soil imported from the United States. This was done in order to honour Washington's declaration he would never again set foot on British soil. In 1888 the statue of General Charles George Gordon was erected.

In 1943 the statue was removed and, in 1953, re-sited on the Victoria Embankment. A bust of the Second World War First Sea Lord Admiral Cunningham by Franta Belsky was unveiled in Trafalgar Square on 2 April 1967 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. 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 SS developed secret plans to transfer Nelson's Column to Berlin following an expected German invasion, as related by Norman Longmate in If Britain Had Fallen (1972). Fourth plinth The fourth plinth on the northwest corner, designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841, was intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV , but remained empty due to insufficient funds. Later, agreement could not be reached over which monarch or military hero to place there.

In 1999, the Royal Society of Arts conceived the Fourth Plinth Project, which temporarily occupied the plinth with a succession of works commissioned from three contemporary artists. These were: Ecce Homo, by Mark Wallinger (1999) Regardless of History, by Bill Woodrow (2000) Monument, by Rachel Whiteread ( 2001 ) Wallinger's Ecce Homo — the title of which means "behold the man" in Latin , a Biblical reference — was of a life-sized man. Atop the huge plinth, designed for larger-than-life statuary, it looked minuscule. Some commentators said that, far from making the man look insignificant, his apparent tininess drew the eye powerfully; they interpreted it as a commentary on human delusions of grandeur. Whiteread's Monument, by an artist already notable for her controversial Turner Prize-winning work House and the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial in Vienna , was a cast of the plinth in transparent resin, and placed upside-down on top of the original. Following the exhibition project, some wished to see it continue in this role. The sculpture Model for a Hotel 2007 by Thomas Schütte.

Various companies have used the plinth (often without permission) as a platform for publicity stunts, including a model of David Beckham by Madame Tussauds during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The London-based American harmonica player Larry Adler jokingly suggested erecting a statue of Moby-Dick, which would then be called the " Plinth of Whales". A television ident for the British TV station Channel 4 shows a CGI Channel 4 logo on top of the fourth plinth. The best use of the fourth plinth remains the subject of debate. On 24 March 2003 an appeal was launched by Wendy Woods, the widow of the anti- apartheid journalist Donald Woods, hoping to raise £400,000 to pay for a nine-foot high statue of Nelson Mandela by Ian Walters. The relevance of the location is that South Africa House, the South African high commission, scene of many anti-apartheid demonstrations, is on the East side of Trafalgar Square.

A committee convened to consider the RSA's late-1990s project concluded that it had been a success and "unanimously recommended that the plinth should continue to be used for an ongoing series of temporary works of art commissioned from leading national and international artists". After several years in which the plinth stood empty, the new Greater London Authority assumed responsibility for the fourth plinth and started its own series of changing exhibitions: Marc Quinn: Alison Lapper Pregnant (unveiled 15 September 2005) – a 3.6-m, 13- t marble torso-bust of Alison Lapper, an artist who was born with no arms and shortened legs due to a condition called phocomelia. Thomas Schütte: Model for a Hotel 2007 (formerly Hotel for the Birds) (unveiled 7 November 2007) – a 5-m by 4.5-m by 5-m architectural model of a 21-storey building made from coloured glass. The work cost £270,000 and was funded primarily by the Mayor of London and the Arts Council of England.

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery and chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group that recommended Quinn's and Schütte's proposals to the Mayor in 2004 , has said: "There will be something extraordinarily sensual about the play of light through the coloured glass. ... [I]t's going to feel like a sculpture of brilliance and light." In February 2008, Terry Smith, the chief executive of trading house Tullett Prebon, offered to pay more than £100,000 for a permanent statue acceptable to "ordinary Londoners" of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park in recognition of his work as commander of No. 11 Group RAF during the Battle of Britain , as it was this Group that was responsible for the defence of London. A Greater London Authority spokesman said: "There are many worthy suggestions for statues on the fourth plinth and some people feel passionately about each of them. All proposals will be judged on their merits including its current use as one of the most high profile sites for contemporary public art in London. The cost of erecting the current work on the plinth is £270,000.

The cost of a permanent monument is likely to be considerably more." Pigeons flocking to London's Trafalgar Square, 2006. Pigeons The square is a popular tourist spot in London, and used to be particularly famous for its pigeons ( Rock Pigeons). Feeding the pigeons was a popular activity with Londoners and tourists. The National Portrait Gallery displays a 1948 photograph of Elizabeth Taylor posing there with bird seed so as to be mobbed by birds. The desirability of the birds' presence has long been contentious: their droppings look ugly on buildings and damage the stonework, and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered to be a health hazard. In 1996, police arrested one man who was estimated to have trapped 1,500 birds for sale to a middleman; it is assumed that the birds ended up in the human food chain. In 2000, the sale of bird seed in the square was controversially terminated and other measures were introduced to discourage the pigeons, including the use of trained falcons.

Supporters of the birds – including Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons – as well as some tourists continued to feed the birds, but, in 2003, Ken Livingstone enacted byelaws to ban the feeding of pigeons within the square. On 10 September 2007 the byelaws were secured sealing an outright ban on feeding birds in area of the square. There are now relatively few birds in Trafalgar Square and it is used for festivals and hired out to film companies, in a way that was not feasible in the 1990s. Redevelopment Members of the public read plans to pedestrianise part of the square, February 2003. In 2003 the redevelopment of the north side of the square was completed. The work involved permanently closing the main Eastbound road there - diverting it around the rest of the square and demolishing part of the wall and building a wide set of stairs. This construction includes two Saxon scissor lifts for disabled access, public toilets, and a small café. Plans for a large staircase had long been discussed, even in original plans for the square.

The new stairs lead to a large terrace or piazza in front of the National Gallery , in what was previously a road. Previously access between the square and the Gallery was via two busy crossings at the north east and north west corners of the square. The pedestrianisation plan was carried out in the face of protests from both road-users and pedestrians concerned that the diversion of traffic would lead to greater congestion elsewhere in London. However, this does not seem to have happened; the reduction in traffic due to the London congestion charge may be a factor. Trafalgar Square, 1908. Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery (looking south), 2003. Panorama of Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery, autumn 2005. Christmas ceremony There has been a Christmas ceremony every year since 1947. A Norway Spruce (or sometimes a fir) is given by Norway 's capital Oslo and presented as London's Christmas tree, as a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II .

(Besides the general war support, Norway's Prince Olav, as well as the country's government, lived in exile in London throughout the war.) As part of the tradition, the Lord Mayor of Westminster visits Oslo in the late autumn to take part in the felling of the tree, and the Mayor of Oslo then comes to London to light the tree at the Christmas ceremony. Political demonstrations A demonstration in Trafalgar Square. Since its construction, Trafalgar Square has been a venue for political demonstrations, though the authorities have often attempted to ban them. The 1939 fountains were allegedly added on their current scale to reduce the possibility of crowds gathering in the square as they were not in the original plans. By March of the year Nelson's column opened, the authorities had started banning Chartist meetings in the square. A general ban on political rallies remained in effect until the 1880s, when the emerging Labour movement, particularly the Social Democratic Federation, began holding protests there. On " Black Monday" ( 8 February 1886 ), protesters rallied against unemployment; this led to a riot in Pall Mall.

A larger riot (called "Bloody Sunday") occurred in the square on 13 November 1887 . One of the first significant demonstrations of the modern era was held in the square on 19 September 1961 by the Committee of 100, which included the philosopher Bertrand Russell . The protesters rallied for peace and against war and nuclear weapons. Throughout the 1980s, a continuous anti-apartheid protest was held outside of South Africa House. More recently, the square has hosted the Poll Tax Riots (1990) and anti-war demonstrations opposing the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war . The Square was also scene to a large vigil held shortly after the terrorist bombings in London on Thursday 7 July 2005. Sports events On 21 June 2002 , 12,000 people gathered in the square to watch the England national football team 's World Cup quarter-final against Brazil on giant video screens which had been erected specially for the occasion.

In the early 21st century, Trafalgar Square has become the location to the climax for victory parades; firstly for the England national rugby union team to celebrate victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup on December 9, 2003 , and then on September 13, 2005, when the climax of the victory parade for the cricket team">England national cricket team's victory against the Australia national cricket team in The Ashes took place there. In 6 July 2005 Trafalgar Square was a gathering place for many London citizens to hear the announcement that they will host the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2007, Trafalgar Square hosted the opening ceremonies of the Tour de France . VE Day celebrations Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was 8 May 1945 , the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler 's Third Reich . Trafalgar Square was filled with British subjects wanting to hear the formal announcement by Sir Winston Churchill that the war was over: it was packed to bursting point.

Trafalgar Square was used as a place of celebration and people from all over the country came there. On Sunday 8 May 2005 the BBC held a concert to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VE Day which was hosted by Eamonn Holmes and Natasha Kaplinsky. Many people who lived during the war attended, and many of the much younger generation, but most importantly many old veterans came and told the stories of their hardships during the six years of war. New Year events For many years, revellers celebrating the start of a New Year have gathered on the square, despite a lack of civic celebrations being arranged for them. The lack of official events in the square was partly because the authorities were concerned that actively encouraging more partygoers would cause overcrowding. Hogmanay at Edinburgh , Scotland has instead been the focus for British New Year celebrations, although since 2005, a firework display centred on London Eye and the South Bank of the Thames, near the square, has given spectators a fitting start to the New Year. Other uses Trafalgar Square was used for portions of two sketches from the BBC comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus.

In a continuation of the sketch "Collecting Birdwatchers' Eggs", several people in tan trenchcoats wandered around the square mocking the famous pigeons. The sketch "Olympic Hide and Seek" also started here. This sketch featured Graham Chapman as British contestant Don Roberts and Terry Jones as Francisco Huron, his competitor from Paraguay in a contest that ended in a tie after more than 11 years. Chapman caught a taxi near the base of Lord Nelson's Column at the beginning of the sketch. Trafalgar Square also appears in cartoon form in several of Terry Gilliam's animations. Trafalgar Square is also featured in the comic version of V for Vendetta as the location that the V's meet the army and defeat them, without a single fired shot due to sheer numbers (and the work of the Original V). Trafalgar Square temporarily grassed over in May 2007. The Square was also the location of the successful ' World's Largest Coconut Orchestra' world record attempt on 23 April 2007. The record was set on St George's Day as part of the celebrations, which was followed by a screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The World record attempt was linked with the use of coconuts during the film as well as the stage show Spamalot. In May 2007, the square was grassed over with 2,000 square metres of turf for two days as part of a campaign by London authorities to promote "green spaces" in the city. In July 2007, the square held a parade and concert for the 60th independence of Pakistan from the British. The event included many legendary sports and celebrity performances and many exhibitions of Pakistan's heritage and culture. It was recorded to be the biggest gathering of expat Pakistanis in the whole of Europe. It was televised live with Geo TV, a private Pakistani television and the High Commission of Pakistan. Every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar ( 21 October), the Sea Cadet Corps holds a parade in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson and the British victory over the combined fleets of Spain and France at Trafalgar. The Areas of the Sea Cadet Corps are represented by seven 24-cadet platoons, made up of 12 male cadets and 12 female cadets.

They represent Eastern Area, London Area, Southern Area, Southwest Area, Northwest Area, Northern Area, and the Marine Cadets. The National Sea Cadet Band also parades, as does a Guard and Colour Party. Access Nelson's Column | OpenBuildings Nelson's Column Our community will never leave baby in the corner. Ontotext edited this building last References Wikipedia , licensed under the GFDL Suggestions View original size Report Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in central London built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was constructed between 1840 and 1843 to a design by William Railton at a cost of £47,000. It is a column of the Corinthian order built out of Dartmoor granite. The Craigleith sandstone statue of Nelson is by E. H. Baily and the four bronze lions on the base, added in 1867, were designed by Sir Edwin Landseer.

It was refurbished in 2006 at a cost of £420,000, at which time it was surveyed and found to be 4.4 metres shorter than previously supposed. The whole monument is 169 ft 3ins (51.59 metres) tall from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of Nelson's hat. Construction and history In February 1838 a group of 121 peers, MPs and other gentry formed a committee to raise a monument to Lord Nelson, funded by public subscription, and the Government agreed to provide a site in Trafalgar Square, in front of the newly completed National Gallery. A competition was held for designs with an estimated budget of between £20,000 and £30,000. The deadline for submissions was January 31, 1839. The winning entry, chosen by a sub-committee headed by the Duke of Wellington was a design by William Railton for a Corinthian column, surmounted by a statue of Nelson, and flanked by four sculpted lions. Flights of steps would lead up between the lions to the pedestal of the column.

Several other entrants also submitted schemes for columns. The second prize was won by Edward Hodges Baily who suggested an obelisk surrounded by sculptures. Criticism of the organisation of the competition caused it to be rerun. Railton submitted a slightly revised design, and was once again declared the winner, with the stipulation that the statue of Nelson should be made by EH Baily. The original plan was for a column 203 feet high, including the base and statue, but this was reduced to 170 feet, with a shaft of 98 feet, due to concerns over stability. The base was to have been of granite and the shaft of Craigleith sandstone,but before construction began, it was decided that shaft should also be of granite. Excavations for the brick foundations had begun by July 1840. On 30 September 1840, the first stone of the column was laid by Charles Davison Scott, honorary secretary of the committee (and son of Nelson's secretary, John Scott), at a ceremony conducted, according to the Nautical Magazine, "in a private manner, owing to the noblemen and gentlemen comprising the committee being absent from town".

Construction of the monument, by the contractors Grissell and Peto progressed slowly, and the stonework, ready for the installation of the statue was not completed until November 1843. In 1844 the Nelson Memorial Committee ran out of money, having only raised £20,485 in public subscriptions, and the Government, in the form of the Office of Woods and Forests took over the project. Controversy over the effect that the design of the base of the column would have on views of the National Gallery led to the removal of the flights of steps. Installation of the bronze reliefs on the pedestal did not begin until late 1849, when John Edward Carew's depiction of the death of Nelson was put in place on the side facing Whitehall. This was followed early the next year by William F. Woodington's relief of the Battle of the Nile on the opposite side. The 5.5 m (18 ft) statue at the top was sculpted by Edward Hodges Baily R.A. from three pieces of Craigleith sandstone donated by the Duke of Buccleuch, former chairman of the Nelson Memorial Committee, from his own quarries.

The statue stands on a fluted column built from solid blocks of granite from the Foggintor quarries on Dartmoor. The Corinthian capital is of bronze, cast from old British cannon at the Woolwich Arsenal foundry. It is based one from the Temple of Mars Ultor in Rome, and was modelled by C.H. Smith. The pedestal is decorated with four bronze relief panels, each 18 feet square,cast from captured French guns. They depict the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Death of Nelson at Trafalgar. The sculptors were Musgrave Watson, William F Woodington, John Ternouth and John Edward Carew respectively. The four identical bronze lions at the column's base were not added until 1867. At one stage, they were intended to be of granite, and the sculptor John Graham Lough was chosen to carve them. However, in 1846, after consultations with Railton, he turned down the commission, unwilling to work under the restrictions imposed by the architect. The sculptures eventually installed, commissioned in 1858, were designed by Sir Edwin Landseer in collaboration with Baron Marochetti.

Landseer was paid £6,000 for his services, and Marochetti £11,000. In 1925 a Scottish con artist, Arthur Furguson, "sold" the landmark to an unknowing American (he also "sold" Big Ben and Buckingham Palace). The column also had some symbolic importance to Adolf Hitler. If Hitler's plan to invade Britain, Operation Sea Lion, had been successful, he planned to move it to Berlin. Refurbishment The column was refurbished in 2006, during which time it was scaffolded from top to bottom for access. Steam cleaning was used together with gentle abrasives to minimise any harmful impact on the bronze and stonework. The £420,000 cost was covered by Zurich Financial Services, which advertised on the scaffolding for the duration of the work. Before restoration began, laser surveys were taken during which it was found that the column was significantly shorter than the usually quoted 56 m (185 ft). In fact, it measures 51.6 m (169.5 ft) from the bottom of the first step on the pedestal to the tip of the admiral's hat.

Climbs John Noakes of the BBC TV children's programme Blue Peter climbed the column in the late 1970s. TV presenter and entertainer Gary Wilmot climbed the column in 1989 for LWT's 'Six O' Clock Show' to recreate the 'topping out' ceremony of 1843. Dressed in Victorian attire and sporting a boater hat, Wilmott enjoyed tea and sandwiches at the top of the column before climbing down. Peter Germenis of the United States also climbed in 1976. Reportedly on a pub wager. The column has also been climbed on several occasions as a publicity stunt to draw attention to social or political causes. Ed Drummond made the first such climb in 1979 for the Anti-Apartheid Movement, making use of the lightning conductor en route. On 13 April 1995 Simon Nadin free-climbed Nelson's Column with Noel Craine, Jerry Moffat and Johnny Dawes following on top rope, and graded the climb as "E6 6b/5a". This protest time was on behalf of Survival International to publicise the plight of Canada's Inuit people.

In May 2003 BASE jumper and stuntman Gary Connery parachuted from the top of the column to draw attention to the Chinese policies in Tibet. Other monuments to Nelson The first civic monument to be erected in Nelson's honour was a 44-metre high obelisk on Glasgow Green in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1806. Also in Scotland, the Nelson Monument stands on top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, and there is also a Nelson's Tower in Forres, Moray. In Dublin, Ireland, Nelson's Pillar was erected in 1808 but was destroyed by the IRA in 1966, and in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, England, there is a Grade II* listed bronze statue of Nelson by Richard Westmacott, dating from 1809. Sir Richard Westmacott also designed the elaborate monument to Nelson in Liverpool. In Portsmouth, Nelson's Needle, on top of Portsdown Hill, was paid for by the company of HMS Victory after arriving back in Portsmouth. There is a column topped with a decorative urn in the Castle Green, Hereford – a statue was planned in place of the urn, but insufficient money was raised.

The Britannia Monument, Great Yarmouth, England (1819) is a 144 feet high doric column design. Elsewhere in the world, Nelson's Column in Montreal was erected by the merchants of that Canadian city in 1809, and there is also a Mount Nelson, near Invermere, British Columbia. A much shorter statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, Barbados is older than its counterpart in London. about 5 years ago via Annotator updated a digital reference and removed a media about 5 years ago via OpenBuildings.com trafalgar square fountains and water features | Kinsman garden fountains and water features Trafalgar Square Fountains Why include an article on Trafalgar Square fountains on a site for garden fountains? Well as a child I lived in London and during school holidays we would often spend time in central London visiting the famous sites and landmarks, the fountains in Trafalgar square are part of my earliest childhood memories, paddling in the water, sitting on the large bronze lions etc.

Water has a fascination for most people, we have tried to bring a little of that magic to your garden with our own range of designs. Trafalgar Square is an area in central London that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square". The area had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I. In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845. 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 tube station still allow pedestrians to avoid traffic. Recent works have reduced the width of the roads and closed the northern side of the square to traffic. Nelson's Column is in the center 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. 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 Strand and South Africa House, to the north Charing Cross Road and on the west side is Canada House. 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 the two generals replaced with statues that "ordinary Londoners would know". The original plans for the square did not include fountains but government concerns over the large amount of open space in the square which could be filled by public demonstrations led to the inclusion of a simple fountain design to break up the open space and limit the potential space for demonstrators. The two fountains by Sir Charles Barry that were added to the original plan for Trafalgar Square were subsequently replaced and, after the Second World War, presented to Ottawa. These fountains played in Trafalgar Square, London England from 1845 to 1939 when they were removed to make way for larger fountains. These fountains were brought to the attention of the the National Art Collection Fund of Britain who acquired them for presentation to a Dominion Capital.

Canada accepted the gift and one of the fountains serves as a memorial to Lieutenant Colonel John By, founder of Bytown which was later renamed Ottawa. The mate to the Ottawa Fountain is located in Wascana Center on the east side of the Legislative Building in Regina. The new, larger basins of Portland stone that form the current fountains commemorate two First World naval men, Admiral Beatty and Admiral Jellicoe. They were designed in 1939 by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who had blue tiles placed on the base to give light and colour to the water. Seventy-five years earlier, Lutyens' godfather, the artist Sir Edwin Landseer, had been responsible for the four bronze lions that guard Nelson's Column. The fountain on the west side was sculpted by Sir Charles Wheeler, and that nearest the Strand by William MacMillan, whose bust of Admiral Beatty is on the nearby wall Lions of London | London Hotels Blog Posted: 26 January 2013 | Laura Porter on London , London Super Bloggers | Comments: 0 A lion symbolises bravery, strength and royalty.

Lions have been used in English heraldry since the 12th century as King Henry II is thought to have used a coat of arms with two lions on it. Statues of lions can be spotted all over London. Indeed, there is a book about the 10,000 Lions of London but I won’t go that far. Here are some of my favourite lions to be seen in London. Trafalgar Square It would be foolish to not start a list of lion statues in London with any others. The four bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square were sculpted by Edwin Landseer, an English artist otherwise known for his paintings of horses, dogs and stags. (c) Laura Porter Trafalgar Square was constructed in the 1830s and Nelson’s Column was added in 1843. The lions came even later as they arrived in 1868. Interestingly, Edwin Landseer had studied the animals kept at the Tower of London before they all moved to London Zoo when it opened in 1828.

Wild animals were often given as gifts from a monarch or a country to England’s king or queen so there was a fine Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London for over 600 years! There is now a Royal Beasts exhibition at the Tower of London explaining the story further. River Lions On the river walls of the River Thames, either side Westminster Bridge, you can see lions head’s with rings in their mouths. These mooring rings are a flood warning and were sculpted by Timothy Butler for Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s great sewage works in 1868-70. (c) Laura Porter If the Thames ever rose high enough to cover them the city would be in danger of flooding but thankfully the occasion has never occurred. We have this rhyme to remind us why the lion’s are there: “When the lions drink, London will sink” “When it’s up to their manes, we’ll go down the drains” “When the water is sucked, you can be sure we’re all … in trouble” South Bank Lion This 13 ton lion was originally positioned on top of the Lion Brewery on the South Bank and was painted bright red.

It stayed there from 1837 until the brewery was demolished in 1950 to make way for the Royal Festival Hall and the Festival of Britain in 1951. (c) Laura Porter King George VI ensured the lion was saved and it was taken to Waterloo Station. In 1966 it was moved to its present location at the start of the South Bank next to County Hall, on the south side of Westminster Bridge, opposite Big Ben. The lion was modelled by W.F. Woodington and is a casting rather than a carving. It is made from Coade stone from a once secret recipe for a very hard artificial stone invented by Eleanor Coade. Her factory created the mould for this lion which was fired in a kiln for two days at 2,000F. St George’s Church, Bloomsbury This English Baroque church was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and was built between 1716 and 1731. This was the sixth, and final, of his London churches. On the tower you can see the lion and unicorn, symbols of England and Scotland.

(c) Steve Fareham St George’s was reopened to the public in 2006 following a five-year restoration initiated and managed by the World Monuments Fund in Britain. The tower and steeple of St George’s is one of Hawkmoor’s most inspired dramatic and theatrical designs. It is based on the Roman author Pliny the Elder’s description of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Bodrum, in Turkey). One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was famed for its superb sculptures and friezes, fragments of which are now on display in the British Museum, close to the church. Like the famed Mausoleum, St George’s spire is adorned with sculpture, but major elements of it were removed in a restoration of the 1870′s. Gigantic lions and unicorns originally clung to the four corners of the steeple. As part of the most restoration, these extraordinary sculptures were recreated and restored to the building by the Cambridge based Architectural Carvers and Stonemasons, Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey Ltd (now Fairhaven and Woods Ltd).

Question: The four bronze lions that surround Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square were sculpted by which British artist ?
Answer: (Sir Edwin) LANDSEER