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Named for St Lucia's famous poet and Nobel Prize-winner, Derek Walcott Square is just southeast of Castries Market between Micoud and Brazil streets, and its fine architecture and central location make it an ideal place to start any city tour. Though it's a peaceful place today, the square has had a turbulent history. In the late eighteenth century following the French Revolution, the square was known as the Place d'Armes, and a guillotine was set up by Republicans anxious to do away with selected members of the nobility. It was then labelled Promenade Square, and later still Columbus Square (1892), before being given its current name in 1993. Bordered by Brazil, Micoud, Bourbon and Laborie streets, this small city centrepiece is a landscaped oasis in an otherwise congested town. The east side of the square is shaded by an immense saman tree , thought to be more than 400 years old. Bordering the south side of the square, Brazil Street is the city's congested and busy architectural showcase. Miraculously, many of its structures escaped the hurricanes and fires of the early colonial days and the mid-twentieth century. Excellent examples of colonial West Indian architecture stand toward the centre of the street, directly across from Derek Walcott Square. Nearly ninety percent of St Lucians are Roman Catholic - a legacy of years of French colonial rule - and the cornerstone of the island's faith is the imposing brick-and-mortar Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception dominating the square's east side. With room to seat two thousand communicants, the foundation of the current structure dates to 1894, but today's building was not completed until 1931. In 1957, the former church was granted the status of a cathedral, and was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1986. Recently, though, the cathedral has been home to much less illustrious visitors. On December 31, 2000, several members of a local cult claiming to align itself with the Rastafarian faith barged into the cathedral, setting fire to the members of the congregation and killing both a priest and a nun. Rastafarians throughout the island condemned the attack, denying any link to their religion. Since then, there have been two further attempts at such antics made by this cult, but security is now greatly improved and both proved unsuccessful. Unless Mass is in progress, you're allowed inside to have a look around the ornate interior , bathed in rich red and diffused yellow light from ceiling portals, and busy with detailed carved wood inlay, wood benches, iron ceiling supports and stately pillars. Note the ceiling paintings of Catholic saints and apostles, with St Lucie in the centre and the vivid murals painted by island artist Dunstan St. Omer, who also designed St Lucia's flag.
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