Omar Mukhtar Avenue is one of the longest in North Africa, it was built by Italians in the colonial time, and Libyans during the era of King Idris I.

The square was originally constructed by the Italian colonial rulers on the site of the old bread market (sūq al-khubs), and it was expanded on several occasions during the 1930s.

[6][7] On Eid ul-Fitr (31 August) and again on 2 September, tens of thousands of Tripoli residents, including many women and children, gathered on Martyrs' Square to celebrate the end of Gaddafi's rule.

[8][9] It features the Red Castle[10] (As-saraya Al-hamra), which hosts Libya's Antiquities Department and the National Museum with a collection of Phoenician, Greek and Roman artefacts.

The museum also exhibits a statue of Venus from the Hadrianic Baths at Leptis, a complete Libyan-Roman tomb from the Ghirza region, and a colourful Volkswagen Beetle used by Colonel Gaddafi leading up to the revolution.