Grand Casemates Square - Gibraltar
Posted by: 
denben
N 36° 08.692 W 005° 21.179
30S E 288301 N 4002581
Located at the northern end of Main Street, the Grand Casemates Square is lined with numerous pubs, bars and restaurants and acts as the gateway into Gibraltar's city centre for most tourists.
Waymark Code: WMKE87
Location: Gibraltar
Date Posted: 03/30/2014
Views: 14
"The Grand Casemates Square takes its name from the British-built Grand Casemates, a casemate and bombproof barracks at the northern end of the square completed in 1817." (
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"The history of the Casemates area begins with the Muslim engineers who decided that the beach was the perfect place to lay down the foundations for the City of Victory in 1160. This was in preparation to take over Gibraltar which was mostly unpopulated. The Sultan of Morocco, Abd-al-Mummin had a grand scheme to establish the Muslim presence here. The settled area was from the castle to the land below and the calm anchorage made the perfect place to bring in boats for repairs. Gibraltar came under Spanish control in the early thirteen hundreds, and the Casemate Square was a walled city with towers and gates.
The monarch of Spain, Ferdinand IV ordered a shipyard to be built but eventually it fell into disuse because the sea and sand caused the foundation to drop.This was the problem the British encountered when they took over in the seventeen hundreds. They built the fortress walls and battlements on higher more solid ground, some not being completed until after the infamous Great Siege.
After the Great Siege, the government of the United Kingdom decided to demolish the buildings that had suffered great damage. Few of the buildings were saved and the area became the open plaza area known today as the Casemate Square. It was a popular place for the rulers to carry out the punishment of the known enemies of the state until the practice was stopped." (
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"Nowadays Grand Casemates Square has become a commercial hub housing numerous pubs, bars, restaurants and shops following the refurbshment of the square in the 1990s to replace a car park which occupied half the square. The square is also used to host various cultural events from live open air concerts, to National Day celebrations. The chief attraction is the Ceremony of the Keys that is a re-enactment of the locking of the gates to the old Town and garrison of Gibraltar. In 2012 the square was host to celebration for Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee." (
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