Stand at the Centre of London, Beside the Lions
You come up the steps from Charing Cross station and the city rearranges itself around you. Ahead, Nelson's Column rises from the middle of the square, a granite statue of Horatio Nelson at its top, four bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer guarding its base. To your north, the National Gallery's long facade closes the square in; to your east, the portico of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Somewhere underfoot is the point regarded in law as the official centre of London, the spot from which distances to the capital are measured. This is a square that has been a landmark since the 1200s, when the King's Mews stood here and Charing Cross marked the junction of the Strand and Whitehall. Stand still for a minute and you will see why people arrange to "meet you by the lions."
Read the Square Like a Story
Almost everything worth looking at here is free, outdoors, and legible if you take it slowly.
- Nelson's Column. Designed by William Railton to commemorate Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the column is crowned by a granite statue sculpted by E. H. Baily, standing on a bronze platform cast from old guns from the Woolwich Arsenal Foundry. Bronze panels around the base depict scenes from Nelson's battles.
- The lions. Landseer's four bronze lions have kept their places at the foot of the column since 1867, traditionally said to protect it.
- The fountains. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the fountains flanking the central area; the mermaids, dolphins and tritons came later, and the fountains run on most days.
- The Fourth Plinth. The northwest plinth stood empty for years; since 1999 it has hosted a rotating programme of contemporary artworks, commissioned roughly every two years under the Greater London Authority. You never quite know what you'll find on it.
- The other three plinths. George IV on horseback (a bronze equestrian statue by Sir Francis Chantrey, 1843) in the northeast corner; General Sir Charles James Napier in the southwest (1856); Major General Sir Henry Havelock in the southeast (1861).
- The north wall. Bronze busts of Admirals Beatty, Jellicoe and Cunningham sit on granite pilasters, and set into the terrace wall are the Imperial Measures, installed in 1876 so surveyors could check archaic units like perches and chains against feet and yards — the information is now found outside the café on the square.
- The small police box on the southeast corner, possibly the smallest ever built: originally a lamp, then fitted with a telephone line and light for Scotland Yard in 1926, now used for storage.
Then step inside. The National Gallery on the north side holds the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries — Van Gogh, Monet, Turner, Rembrandt, Botticelli among them — with free admission to the main collection. St Martin-in-the-Fields, the 18th-century church on the northeast corner, hosts classical concerts, lunchtime recitals and art exhibitions.
Time Your Visit Around the Light and the Calendar
The square is quietest before 9am — come early and you can look at the column and the lions with room to breathe, then be first through the National Gallery's doors. The gallery is calmer early or later in the afternoon on weekdays. Allow a morning to combine the square, the gallery and the church; there is limited seating out on the square itself, and queues build at peak hours at the main attractions.
Two moments in the year are worth planning around. At Christmas, the square receives its annual Christmas tree, a gift from the government of Norway since 1947 in thanks for Britain's wartime support, decorated in Norwegian style with vertical lines of white bulbs and erected for twelve days before and after Christmas Day; carol singing fills most evenings through Advent. On New Year's Eve, the square is a centre of the city's celebrations. At any time of year, come back after dark to see the fountains illuminated.
The one thing not to miss is small and easy to overlook: descend into the Café in the Crypt beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields, where 18th-century tombs are set into the floor among the brick vaults. It serves traditional cakes, pies and British classics at prices below the streets above, with live jazz most Wednesdays — it can sell out, so book.
Walk Out From the Square
The square sits at a crossroads, and the streets leading off it are part of the visit. Whitehall runs south, the Strand east, and to the southwest The Mall leads towards Buckingham Palace via Admiralty Arch. Canada House faces South Africa House across the square. The National Portrait Gallery is just off the square, recently refurbished, with free general admission; the Churchill War Rooms, preserved almost as they were left in 1945, are a short stroll away. For onward ideas further afield, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Madame Tussauds and Emirates Stadium are all part of the wider city you can reach from here.
Start with a morning: arrive before nine, walk the perimeter and read the plinths, climb the terrace steps to the National Gallery, and end underground in the crypt with a pot of tea. Check the gallery's current exhibitions and St Martin's concert listings before you go, and build your day around the square — it is, after all, where London measures itself from.