点评:Thursday 4th December and we visited the historic Square while we were sightseeing in downtown Nassau.
The Square is located along Bay Street with Parliament Street and Bank Lane on either side.
In fairness we nearly walked by and the buildings because the front of the Square was filled with tiers of temporary seating, which shielded the buildings from view. The seating had been erected for visitors to sit and watch the planned Christmas celebrations.
We did make our way into the Square through a gap in the seating.
The Square and it's grand buildings were built in the early 1800's. They were built by Loyalist who were refugees fleeing to The Bahamas from the American Revolution.
It is home to a number of impressive colonial style Government buildings, which are the Parliament Building, House of Assembly, Senate Building and the Supreme Court of The Bahamas.
All of them are painted a light shade of pink, which symbolises the refugees British colonial heritage. Another story is that they are pink because it was Queen Victoria's favorite colour.
There is a statue of Queen Victoria, reviewed separately, it stands in the centre of the square in front of the Parliament Building with the House of Assembly and The Senate on either side.
At the time of our visit the Square was decorated for Christmas. There was a banner wishing everyone a "Happy Holidays" across the top of the Parliament Building. While 3 large wreaths decorated with golden bows and silver baubles hung from the balustrades of the balcony. There was a very large and heavily decorated Christmas tree nearby.
As well as the buildings and statue there are some other interesting features to see in the Square. This includes the House of Assembly Plaques and the old Cannons, reviewed separately.
翻译:12月4日星期四,我们在拿骚市中心观光时参观了历史悠久的广场。
广场位于海湾街(Bay Street)沿线,两侧分别是议会街(Parliament Street)和银行巷(Bank Lane)。
说实话,我们差点就错过了这些建筑,因为广场前面摆满了临时搭建的阶梯式座椅,遮挡住了建筑的视线。这些座椅是为方便游客观看圣诞庆祝活动而搭建的。
我们最终还是从座椅间的缝隙钻进了广场。
广场及其宏伟的建筑建于19世纪初。它们是由保皇党人建造的,这些人是为躲避美国独立战争而逃往巴哈马的难民。
这里坐落着许多令人印象深刻的殖民时期风格的政府建筑,包括议会大厦、国民议会大厦、参议院大厦和巴哈马最高法院。
所有这些建筑都被漆成了浅粉色,象征着难民们的英国殖民遗产。另一种说法是,粉色是维多利亚女王最喜欢的颜色。
广场中央矗立着维多利亚女王的雕像(另有单独介绍),它正对着议会大厦,众议院和参议院分列两侧。
我们参观时,广场已装点一新,洋溢着圣诞气氛。议会大厦顶部悬挂着一条横幅,祝愿大家“节日快乐”。阳台栏杆上悬挂着三个饰有金色蝴蝶结和银色小饰品的大型花环。附近还有一棵装饰华丽的大型圣诞树。
除了建筑和雕像,广场上还有其他一些值得一看的景点,例如众议院的牌匾和古老的加农炮(另有单独介绍)。