1.   As fireworks exploded over the vast square, Boleslaw Siematkowski began to cry.

2.   A Nativity scene with life-size figures decorated the vast square in front of the basilica in another tradition begun by this pope.

3.   Instead, they were picked up as soon as they were identified by the scores of plainclothes police roaming the vast square.

4.   On one side of the vast square is the Great Hall of the People, where the national parliament will convene in March.

5.   One of the great gathering places in Madrid is the Plaza Mayor, a vast square surrounded by arched buildings housing shops and apartments.

6.   On Sunday, thousands stood in the vast square facing the palace taking pictures of it.

7.   Plainclothes police confiscated flowers from people headed toward a memorial for revolutionary martyrs in the center of the vast square, where flags flew at half-staff.

8.   As the Chinese flag was raised for the first time early Tuesday, five minutes of thunderous fireworks filled the skies above the vast square.

9.   Bells pealed and cannon salvos echoed across the vast square.

10.   It is in the middle of the vast central square of the compound that also houses the Grand Mosque.