TRAFALGAR SQUARE, Second Part

Now let me tell you about the monument dedicated to Admiral Horatio Nelson, which is the symbol par excellence of English naval power and the focal point of Trafalgar Square. The victorious admiral was the scourge of Napoleon, and heroically fell aboard the ship Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when the British fleet defeated the French. You can see the majestic figure of the admiral on top of the colossal, 51-metre-tall column in the middle of the square. The bas-reliefs at its base were made from the bronze of cannons taken from the French ships.

But you should know that the original design for the monument honouring Nelson, which included the colossal lions on its pedestal, didn't even include a column!

Two more pedestals were built facing the National Gallery: the one on the right as you face the museum is the base for a statue of King George IV, while the one on the left has had a far more unusual fate. In fact, it's known as the Fourth Plinth. Of the four decorating the square, it was the only one that remained empty until the end of the nineties, when a commission was assigned to order sculptures by prestigious international artists, to be changed every two years....