Discover The Titanic in Belfast

Harland & Wolff, Titanic Quarter

Have you been to the Titanic Belfast museum yet? And if not, why not??

The six story exhibition museum is a must visit when in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Just steps away from the actual birthplace of the world’s most famous ship (the area is now actually called the Titanic Quarter) it showcases the fact, figures, journey and personal histories of the “unsinkable” ship of dreams.

Titanic Belfast

Well if you have or have not made the memorable trip there is more great news for this construction marvel. The award winning museum which only opened in 2012 (read about the grand opening) is undergoing a refreshment with a new gallery addition to be launched in March, while a number of other popular galleries in the Titanic Belfast Experience will be developed.
The development highlights includes a new Discovery Tour – a walking-tour insight into the building’s concept and design that also sees the historic Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices re-open to Discovery Tour guests.


The attraction will also welcome the return of Ocean Explorer Dr Robert Ballard, the man who discovered the wreck of RMS Titanic in 1985, on March 20. He will host a public lecture, and ‘An Evening with Dr. Ballard,’ an exclusive conversational event boasting with it a White Star Line theatrical 5-star dining experience in the building’s breath-taking Titanic Suite.

In addition, while preparing to host the much-anticipated Giro d’Italia 2014 start in May, Titanic Belfast will be extending its temporary exhibition portfolio this year on the back of the popular Games of Thrones exhibit in 2013, which was viewed by more than 12,000 fans of the HBO series.

I visited the huge awe inspired museum in December 2012, and although the information is vast, the design and interaction of the exhibits means that even those who bore easily are kept entertained. The history of Belfast before and during the building of the Titanic was interesting, Belfast was much more than a city of The Troubles, it was an industrial hub. 

From the social history you physically move through the shipyard on a ride and watch as the Titanic is built before your eyes with sparks flying and deafening noise. You get the facts and figures of the launch of the ship as you look out on the actual Harland and Wolff Shipyard. Obviously you learn about the sinking, you hear the story from several different angles including the aftermath and the myths and legends surrounding that faithful night. And then you get to see the ship wreck you watch as it is discovered and look through what was left behind.

Movies and moving objects, interactive screens, an amusement ride through the building of the ship, the artefacts, the underground water discovery of the ship and remodels of the actual rooms are all presented in a way that keeps all the family tuned in.

If you do one thing this year - visit Belfast and see The Titanic!

Titanic Belfast Museum

I cannot tell you HOW excited I was when I received links to the "sneak peak" inside the six story Titanic Belfast museum which opens on March 31.

The amazing exhibition which opens to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic took over three years to build - the same length of time it took to actually build the Titanic Ship.
Take a few minutes to think about that - think about technology, modern machinery, equipment and our perceived intellect. And in the early 1900s they built the beautiful, majestic (slightly flawed!) ship to transport almost 2,300 passengers to America in the same amount of time to build a museum.
My thoughts: This exhibition/ museum/ banquet/ conference centre is going to be epic!

According to the press release 80,000 people have pre-booked tickets to see the museum - so I better get my skates on! People from over all the world will descend on Belfast in April to commemorate the greatest ship.

The magnificent sweeping staircase give the Titanic Suite (caters for 1,000) that awe-some effect. But there are nine other galleries to give you an insight into the whole Titanic experience.

A replica of the grand staircase boasted by Titanic.© Pacemaker 

Gallery 1: Boomtime Belfast - step back in time and get acquainted with Edwardian Belfast.
Gallery 2: The Arrol Gantry and Shipyard Ride - Visitors take a metal elevator up the Arrol Gantry, the enormous steel structure built to facilitate the construction of Titanic and her sister ships. Believed to be the first of its kind, the ride is a five-minute journey in a six-seater car that rotates and moves up and down along a circuit accompanied by CGI, audio and special effects. - How exciting!!
Gallery 3: Watch as they launch the Titanic!
Gallery 4: The Fit out - experience the reality of the inside of the RMS Titanic through a 3D Cave
Gallery 5: The Maiden Voyage - photos from the event.
Gallery 6: The Sinking - Enter a darkened tunnel where the temperature, soundtrack and images all evoke the
tragedy of Titanic's collision with an iceberg and subsequent sinking, with the loss of 1,500 lives.
Galley 7:  The Aftermath - The inquiries, lifeboats and Harland & Wolff following the sinking.
Gallery 8: Myths & Legends -The movies, the books and more
Gallery 9: Titanic Beneath - Explore the ship wreck and the debris left behind.

Titanic Belfast visitors will get to see what life was like on board the ill-fated ship.© Pacemaker 

I feel exhausted thinking about it all - but it has been a trip I have been waiting a long time for.

The world’s largest Titanic exhibition expects to give you the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the City and people which made her.Visitors will learn about the construction of RMS Titanic and the wide and rich story of Northern Ireland’s industrial and maritime heritage.

Raise a glass  to a new era for Belfast and Northern Ireland.