Titanic Belfast has already been dubbed The Iceberg. A neck-craning 125ft tall, resembling the mammoth hulls of four ocean-liners and clad in glistening silver shards, it’s not hard to see why.
This 150,000 sq ft exhibition space, which cost nearly £100 million to build, opened its doors on March 31, marking the anniversary of Titanic’s completion. The world’s leading Titanic attraction, she rises from the waterfront where her namesake was created, in what was once the busiest shipyard in the world.
Standing outside on the redundant slipway, it’s hard to picture the glory days of the 1900s, when Belfast was a booming international hub for the tobacco, linen and rope making industries.
However walk through the exhibition’s glass-roofed entry hall, enter Gallery One and you’re back in boom time Belfast, walking to work together with flat-capped yard workers, swerving at the clatter of horses’ hooves on the cobbles and jumping at the whistle of steam behind you.
It’s a sensory experience that inspires visitors to identify with the people of the era. You can truly feel the buoyancy that filled Belfast’s streets back then.
In Gallery Two, a lift shoots 70ft up a reconstruction of one of the enormous pillars of the giant Arrol Gantry, for years a Belfast landmark, as if to start a day’s work, beating iron rivets into Titanic’s inch-thick steel plates.
Across nine commercial property galleries altogether, visitors are guided on a journey through the ship’s lifetime, from her formation and construction to her resting place, 13,000 ft. deep on the Atlantic seabed. Local tour guide Dee Morgan, said: “This is not a traditional museum. You won’t find any old spoons and dusty suitcases here.”
In Gallery Seven, ice-cold air fills your nostrils as you look down to find watery waves thrashing at your shoes and pick up the fervent clicking of Morse Code. But then again rather than dramatise the sinking, this exhibition is about celebrating the workmanship behind the boat. Dee explains, “In Belfast, everyone’s granddaddy built the Titanic. We’re proud to be reviving our heritage.”
Every so often, the exhibition reconnects with the background outside-the dry dock below, the original drawing offices, the River Lagan where the Titanic first set sail- reminding visitors that this commercial property building could not have been positioned anywhere else in the world.
Up until recently, ‘Titanic’ was a dirty term in Belfast-the city was keen to remove its association with the greatest maritime tragedy in history. However, this pioneering exhibition is about bringing the Titanic back to the Belfast of in the present day, using the heroic story of her formation to put Northern Ireland’s capital back on the map.
Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of adults in Northern Ireland plan to visit the Titanic Belfast commercial property attraction this year, according to an independent survey. The figure emerged after the commercial property announced last week that it had sold out the attraction until Monday, April 16.
The survey, carried out by the firm YouGov, questioned 818 adults aged between 18 and 64 and found that 70 per cent of adults in Northern Ireland plan on visiting Titanic Belfast this year.
It also found that 18 per cent do not plan on visiting the attraction at all, while 12 per cent are unsure. The study also found that 45 per cent of adults said they thought a replica of Titanic should have been constructed. However, forty-one per cent remained against the imitation idea, while 14 per cent said they didn’t know.
