THE TITANIC MUSEUM, opened in 2012, is a visitor attraction marking the centenary of theTitanic’s maiden voyage. It was erected on the site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built. It looks like an iceberg with its 3000 individual silver aluminium shards which symbolize the waves and the ice. It is 38 meters high, the same height as the hull of theTitanic .
Article de Annie Blanchet – Journal FGB – 2è trimestre 2020
At the entrance of the site you can see the iconic « Samson and Goliath » cranes. I liked this place because of its fascinating and moving experience. It’s not only a museum to tell us the story of the Titanic, but it’s also an area to show us the city of Belfast at the start of of the 20th century (1909-1911). It illustrates the city’s major industries at that time, the life of the workers and their children. Inside of the museum, there are nine interpretative and interactive galleries. There are no relics apart from some letters and cards.
1. BOOMTOWN BELFAST recreates scenes from Belfast industries like :Linen Mill, Covan’s with Irish Whiskey, ropeworks factories and the shipyard with its 3000 workers (mecanics, plumbers, electricians, painters and decorators).
2. THE SHIPYARD is dominated by a 20 – meter high steel scaffold. You can climb in a lift to go to the top of the gantry and see the scenes of shipbuilding and hear the noise of the shipyard .
3. THE LAUNCH : After two years of construction, the Titanic was launched on 31st May 1911, watched by 100 000 people, spectators and members of the world’s press.
4. THE FIT OUT : The fourth gallery presents a large scale model of the ship. Three kinds of cabins can be seen. You can very easily imagine how the passangers and crew lived. You can enjoy a 360-degree computer generated tour around the Titanic through all the levels of the vessels from the engine room to the dining saloons and the bridge : as if you were there !
5. THE MAIDEN VOYAGE : On a map, you follow the journey from Belfast to Southampton, Cherbourg, Queenstone and Cohb, the last port which shelted the Titanic in the county of Cork and westwards …
The Titanic never reached NEW YORK.
6. THE SINKING : The disaster on the 14th and 15th of April 1912. In this gallery, the iceberg is evoked by a wall of 400 replica lifejackets on which an image of the sinking ship is projected.
7. THE AFTERMATH : You can watch videos, read information panels and use interactive screens to search the passengers and crew lists to find out if any of your relatives were aboard the ship.The wreck was the headlines of a lot of newspapers exhibited in this room.
8. MYTHS AND LEGENDS :They are perpetuated through films, plays books and poems. Interactive screens enable the visitor to explore myths about the ship. For exemple the 1997 movie « Titanic » by James Cameron with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio and the song : « My heart will go » by Céline Dion or « The sinking of the Titanic » which is a work composed by Gavin Bruyars and inspired by the story of the band on the RMS Titanic. It is said that they continued to play as the ship was sinking .
9. THE TITANIC BENEATH THE SEA : The last gallery presents The Titanic as it is now : 3700 m below the surface of the North Atlantic.The wreck of the ship was discoved bt the American oceanographer ROBERT BALLARD in September 1985. Two Museums are raising money to purchase the 5500 artifacts. But they have not got enough money and this place is considered now as a memorial to all the 1500 people who died in that disaster.