Merdeka Square — Dataran Merdeka — is where the Union Jack was lowered and the Malaysian flag raised at independence in 1957. The square itself is a large open field with a 100-metre flagpole at its centre, one of the tallest in the world. It's surrounded by some of KL's most architecturally interesting colonial-era buildings: the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (Moorish-Victorian, with its distinctive copper domes), the Royal Selangor Club, and the National History Museum. The modern Dayabumi Complex rises nearby as a contrast.
Worth visiting in the early morning or evening — midday in the open square is brutally hot.