Here you can see Tiananmen Square in this birdseye view. We are looking north towards the Forbidden City. On the west side (left) lies the Great Hall of the People, built in 1959, and completed in less than a year. The National People's Congress meets here, formal meetings and receptions for heads of state and Chairman Mao's body lies in state. On the east side is the Museum of Natural History. To the south is the Monument to the People's Heroes. The monument was the focus of attention when wreaths brought by the people to honor the late Zhou Enlai were removed by the police. And of course, Tiananmen was the scene of the incident in 1990 when students voiced their dissatisfaction with the government. Tiananmen covers 40 hectares (100 acres) in the very center of Beijing. On October 1, 1949 the government replaced each of the square's concrete blocks with blocks of freshly hewn granite.