Titanic Belfast
Belfast's silver-shard landmark stands right beside the slipways where Titanic was built, and it is the same height as her hull. It opened before the centenary of her sinking.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- Titanic Quarter, Queen's Island, Belfast
- Opened
- 31 March 2012
- Height
- About 38 metres, matching the height of Titanic's hull
- Cost
- Around £77 million
- Architect
- Eric Kuhne, with Todd Architects
- Exterior
- Around 3,000 shiny aluminium panels
- Site
- Beside the former Harland and Wolff slipways where Titanic and Olympic were built
- Award
- Named World's Leading Tourist Attraction at the World Travel Awards in 2016
A museum built beside the spot where the ship was born
Most Titanic stories are set in the North Atlantic. This one starts in Belfast, in a shipyard on Queen's Island, where a vast ship was built by Harland and Wolff and launched on 31 May 1911. Titanic Belfast stands right beside the slipways that held her. Titanic was Yard Number 401, and her sister ship Olympic was built alongside her. You can walk the slipways outside and see the footprint of the great ships laid out on the ground. The museum opened on 31 March 2012, just ahead of the centenary of the sinking on 15 April. It was meant to put Belfast's part of the story at the centre, instead of the tragedy alone.
Four prows, a star and a lot of shards
The building is hard to miss. Four angular wings rise to prow-like points, and the whole thing is covered in about 3,000 silvery aluminium panels that glitter in sunlight and look dull and metallic under Belfast cloud. The design by architect Eric Kuhne is often said to nod to the White Star Line's star symbol, and the wings are shaped to echo the bows of ships. At about 38 metres, it matches the height of Titanic's hull. The point is to let you stand in front of it and feel how huge the ship was. The architecture is meant to be read as a ship, an iceberg or a star, and people argue about which. All three work.
Inside: from shipyard noise to the final hours
The galleries take you through Belfast in the early twentieth century, when the city was one of the great industrial powers of the age. Linen, rope-making and shipbuilding all feature, with Harland and Wolff at the heart of it. The founders, Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff, began the yard in 1861. By Titanic's day it was led by William Pirrie. Thomas Andrews, the ship's designer, came from Comber, County Down, and he died on the voyage. One highlight is a ride through a recreation of the shipyard, with the noise and scale of riveting and building. Later galleries cover the launch, the fitting out, the departure from Belfast on 2 April 1912 for sea trials, and the sinking.
The 'not even God could sink it' myth
The famous boast that 'God himself could not sink this ship' is one of the best-known Titanic legends, and it is repeated all over Belfast and beyond. There is no solid evidence that anyone from the yard said it, so treat it as folklore. What was said is more modest. Trade press of the time described Titanic and Olympic as practically unsinkable, because of their watertight compartments. That is quite different from a promise. People in Belfast often point out that the ship was fine when she left the city. She passed her sea trials, and the story only turned dark in the Atlantic.
What to look for around the building
Walk outside before you go in. The slipways are marked at ground level, and a walk along the outline shows how big the ship was. Look out for the yellow cranes Samson and Goliath, which dominate the skyline and are Belfast landmarks in their own right. Nearby is the SS Nomadic, the last surviving White Star Line vessel, which carried passengers out to Titanic at Cherbourg. The old Harland and Wolff drawing offices, where the ship was designed, are close by too. The area has also become a film and TV hub. Titanic Studios, in a former shipyard building, hosted much of the filming of Game of Thrones. The Titanic Quarter now stands for a very different Belfast from the Troubles-era reputation of decades ago.
Notable people
- Thomas Andrews
- Edward Harland
- Gustav Wolff
- William Pirrie
- Eric Kuhne
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