National Heroes Square

National Heroes Square (formerly Trafalgar Square) is located in the capital and principal commercial centre Bridgetown, on the island-nation of Barbados. The square lies along Upper Broad Street and is on the northern shore of the Careenage ("Constitution River"), found directly in the centre of Bridgetown.

A fixture of the Square on the west-end includes a bronze statue of Admiral Lord Nelson overlooking the Square. The statue in Bridgetown was erected unveiled on March 22. 1813 to commemorate the anniversary of the British Royal Navy's victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The local statue of Lord Nelson in Bridgetown was erected approximately 27 years before the more famous Nelson's Column which is located in London, England's Trafalgar Square. As a point of reference, Nelson has served as the decided upon centre of Bridgetown. During the colonial years many distances on the island from Bridgetown have historically been measured from the base of Nelson's statue.

The current name of National Heroes Square was adopted on 22 April 1999 and officially took effect on from 28th April, 1999.

In 2009 the David Thompson-Government opened up a proposal to rename the area as "Parliament Square". and to completely redevelop and reconfigure the Square's layout.

Famous quotes containing the words national, heroes and/or square:

    [D]rilling and arming, when carried on on a national scale, excite whole populations to frenzies which end in war.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may outweigh a million, is not being increased these days.... Such do not know that like the seed is the fruit, and that, in the moral world, when good seed is planted, good fruit is inevitable, and does not depend on our watering and cultivating; that when you plant, or bury, a hero in his field, a crop of heroes is sure to spring up. This is a seed of such force and vitality, that it does not ask our leave to germinate.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Rationalists, wearing square hats,
    Think, in square rooms,
    Looking at the floor,
    Looking at the ceiling.
    They confine themselves
    To right-angled triangles.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)