The Titanic returns to the news every April. Year after year the short existence and the enormous legend surrounding the most fabulous cruise ship of all time is evoked at this time. So at Magazine Horse where the most elegant cruise ships of today sail regularly, we are also going to tell you about the famous ship. Or rather, we want to tell you about the Titanic Belfast the great tribute that the capital of Northern Ireland has paid to the most charismatic ship out of its shipyards.
Unmistakable marine profile of the building (Courtesy of Tourism Ireland)
It was the last day of March 1912, when that nautical prodigy set sail from the Northern Irish port for Southampton, where it would embark its first and last passage. We now know that she never reached her destination and that an iceberg in the early hours of the morning sank the unsinkable giant. Almost from that very night in mid-April, the tragedy became a myth. However, there was one place where the disaster was experienced with such intensity that the mourning was to last a century. We are talking about Belfast.
Titanic Belfast Inauguration
The sinking of the Titanic had serious repercussions on the local shipping industry and locals say that the city went into a deep depression. So for a long time it was a taboo subject. You could say they mourned for 100 years. But they decided to turn the page and commemorate the centenary in style. Precisely on March 31, 2012 the Titanic Belfast was inaugurated.
The Titanic’s voyage would undoubtedly impress (Courtesy of Titanic Belfast)
It was like waking up from a long lethargy. A great work was rising again in Northern Ireland. Now in the form of a building stranded in the old shipyards. A giant that also offers its visitors a trip, but to sail through history and the virtual seas of memory. In short, an unmissable appointment since then for tourists in Belfast.
The exterior of the Titanic Belfast
A walk around the exterior of the Titanic Belfast is the first pleasure of this visit. Just as it would happen to cruise passengers, visitors to the museum are also impressed by its monumentality. A large volume with facades covered by thousands of anodized aluminum plates, pieces that offer a myriad of brightness thanks to the light and reflections of the moat that surrounds the building. In this way, the Titanic Belfast can have a metallic skin or simulates being sea water, and even evokes the fearsome icebergs. It can also be transformed into a gigantic screen for certain events.
Audiovisual projection on the Titanic Belfast (Courtesy of Tourism Northernireland)
It is a building whose shape inevitably brings to mind the bow of a ship. Actually, several bows, that of the Titanic and her brothers the Britannic and the Olympic. All of them came out of the neighboring shipyards where the bridge crane still stands with the H and the W that reminds us of Harland and Wolff, its manufacturers.
View of the Titanic Belfast (Courtesy of Tourism Northernireland)
But not only the shape is reminiscent of the mythical ship. Also its height, since it has the same dimensions as the Titanic’s own bow from the keel to the deck. There are many other details that unite building and ship. For example, in both there is capacity for the same number of occupants. No more and no less than 3,547.
The museum
The sensations provoked by the building designed by architect Eric Kuhne are the ideal preparation for entering the six floors on which the Titanic Belfast museum installation is developed.
To define this visit the most appropriate word is immersion. A tour that takes us to the city of Belfast in the early twentieth century. So we understand what was involved in the creation of a ship like the Titanic. Then we discover how the great ship was created, something really impressive considering the means of the time.
Gallery dedicated to the construction of the Titanic (Courtesy of Titanic Belfast)
And finally we take a walk through the mythical ship. Not only for its famous staircase and lounges where the music played until the last minute. Also by the different types of cabins, by its decks, its engine rooms,… We went all over the cruise, we discovered its secrets, we were fascinated by it and we wished we had lived that unique experience. If it were not for its ending, since from history we come to the present, and we do it in a spectacular way, hearing the last SOS messages of the Titanic and making a live connection with the wreckage of the ship. Spooky.
Recreation of the first class cabins (Courtesy of Titanic Belfast)
Titanic Hotel Belfast
We have already said that the Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard. Well, one of the buildings of that company, specifically its drawing offices, still stands next to the Titanic Belfast. A historic building of the nineteenth century, which after many vicissitudes, today is perfectly restored and transformed into an elegant hotel.
Interior of the Titanic Hotel Belfast (Courtesy of Titanic Hotel)
Its name could not be other than Titanic Hotel Belfast. And somehow staying in any of its more than 100 rooms is to approach the experience of traveling on the historic cruise ship. The hall, the lounges or each of the rooms take us back to that era. The details and decorations of those years abound, making it almost an extension of the neighboring museum.
The Titanic Quartier
The construction of Titanic Belfast has meant the recovery of a forgotten industrial area. It has been used to configure what has been called Titanic Quartier, one of the most visited and buoyant neighborhoods in Belfast today.
Titanica” sculpture, emblem of the museum and the neighborhood (Courtesy of Tourism Northernireland)
There are more and more attractions in the area. And among them we highlight the nearby Titanic film studios. Several productions have already been filmed here, the most famous of all: Game of Thrones. The television series has turned many other places in Northern Ireland into a gigantic set. And in fact, contemplating these scenarios is today the great tourist attraction of the country, with incredible figures. Perhaps you plan to travel to this portion of the United Kingdom to know in situ those places. If so, perfect! But save a day, at least, to visit the Northern Irish capital and immerse yourself in the impressive Titanic Belfast.
