Titanic Belfast is located in Titanic Quarter, Northern Ireland. It is the largest RMS Titanic museum in the world. The Belfast’s maritime heritage monument is housed in a six-floor building on the ex Harland & Wolff shipyard site. Titanic Belfast tells the story of RMS Titanic from her design through the construction works to her ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912. There also RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic, her sister ships, galleries.
Titanic Belfast was opened on 31 March 2012 and since then, it is a major tourist attraction.
The Building
Titanic Foundation Limited is the owner of Titanic Belfast. Co-founders are the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Belfast Harbour Commissioners, Belfast City Council and Trade and Investment, Department of Enterprise. The construction cost were £77 million, £24 million more were spent on Titanic Belfast pre-plan stage.
Architects of the building are Eric Kuhne and Associates with consultants Todd Architects. The intention was to reflect the shipbuilding history of Belfast. The form of Titanic Belfast resembles the form of vessels’ prows. Its main one angles down towards the River Lagan. It is the RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic slipways’ middle.
Titanic Belfast welcomes its visitors with Titanica. It is a sculpture of a diving female figure by Rowan Gillespie. Titanica is made of bronze and placed on a brass base in front the building. She represents positivity and hope and evokes the design of figures on the prows of the ships. Representatives of the Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches dedicated Titanica a few days before Titanic Belfast was opened.
Titanic Belfast building has eight stories on 12,000 m2. It has interpretive galleries which discover different aspect of RMS Titanic. The top floor houses a banqueting facility for 750 seating people, the biggest conference space in Belfast and the Titanic Suite. In the conference center is located a reproduction of the RMS Titanic staircase. It became famous in 1997 because of the Titanic movie.
Titanic Belfast also offers restaurant, community resource center, retail and education facilities.
The visitors for its first year were 807,340.
Exhibition in Titanic Belfast
Event Communications designed the exhibition in Titanic Belfast. It has nine interactive and interpretative galleries. The themes are:
Boomtown Belfast
This gallery is a recreation of Belfast at the begging of the 20th century. It guides the visitors from the Belfast major industries in the period 1909-1911 trough the Harland & Wolff shipyard gates to an interactive floor with the construction plans of RMS Titanic and her original drawings. The first gallery in Titanic Belfast also has a scale model of the liner.
The Shipyard
Titanic Belfast second gallery shows a steel scaffold. It endorses to the Arrol Gantry stands 20 m, 66 feet. The visitors are lifted to its top to see shipbuilding scenes. The second gallery of Titanic Belfast also houses a RMS Titanic’s huge rudder scale replica.
The Launch
Titanic Belfast launch gallery pictures the launch of RMS Titanic on 31 May 1911.
The Fit-Out
Titanic Belfast fourth gallery shows RMS Titanic fit-out from 31 May 1911 through her maiden voyage.
The visitors tour 360-degree computer-generated RMS Titanic. The tour goes from the engines trough all the levels to the bridge of the ship.
The Maiden Voyage
Titanic Belfast fifth gallery portrays the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic. It starts with the voyage from Belfast to Southampton. The guests can visit the boat deck of the ship, take a walk or just sit on the benches to take a look at the harbour and the docks.
The fifth gallery in Titanic Belfast houses Father Francis Browne, Jesuit photographer, works.
The Sinking
Titanic Belfast sixth gallery depicts the disaster of the sinking. The Morse code SOS messages are used as a background. The visitors can see images of the sinking and listen to survivors’ stories.
The Aftermath
Titanic Belfast seventh gallery shows full scale replica of a lifeboat. On either side of the boat there are information and videos panels portraying the British and American investigations on the disaster.
The seventh gallery in Titanic Belfast has interactive screen which list the names of the passengers and the crew members.
Here the visitors can find information about RMS Titanic’s sisters and the Halrand&Wolf following history.
Myths & Legends
Titanic Belfast eight gallery represents through interactive screens the myths and legends about the famous ship. The audio background is My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion.
Titanic Beneath
Titanic Belfast last gallery displays the RMS Titanic below the North Atlantic surface. The visitors can see a fish-eye view of the shipwreck.