Titanic Belfast day tours from Dublin

Titanic Belfast day tours from Dublin

Posted on January 24, 2012 

Titanic Belfast day tour from Dublin, book your seat now the Full story in nine galleries: The dramatic £90 million ($134 million) Titanic Belfast visitor attraction opens shortly.

Here is a preview of what’s inside: it’s more of a journey than a set of displays. The story starts in the first gallery with 1912 “boomtown Belfast” and takes you in a caged lift to the fourth floor for an atmospheric six-minute cart ride through the shipyards. The third gallery is based around a glass apex with a film projection re-creating the completed Titanic on the slipways outside. It launches into dry dock for fit out, with depictions of the first-, second- and third-class cabins in the next gallery.

The cave section is a journey through the bowels of the ship, projected on the walls. Gallery five is based on the ship’s maiden voyage and re-creates life on board. In the next gallery, the walls narrow and the temperature drops as we trace the timeline of the sinking from iceberg collision to final gasp of air on April 15. The British and American inquiries into the disaster follow in the next gallery.

The final two galleries are just as evocative, devoted to the legends of the ship, with touchscreen displays of Titanic folklore and a voyage to the Nova Scotia seabed where the wreck now lies, using film footage of an ocean dive in 1985. An Ocean Exploration Centre, developed with marine biologists, completes a memorable visit.

Visit Titanic Belfast 2012

Visit Worlds Largest Titanic exhibition plus Belfast on a day tour from Dublin

Posted on January 24, 2012 

History of Belfast City Hall For many centuries, Belfast was a small settlement. Everything changed in 1613, when a Royal charter gave Belfast town status. It expanded rapidly, becoming an important port and manufacturing cent By the end of the 19th century, Belfast had outgrown its status as a town and was a major industrial powerhouse, known for its shipbuilding, rope making, engineering, tobacco and textile industries.

In 1888, Queen Victoria gave Belfast the title of city and it was generally agreed that a new city hall was needed to reflect this change in status.

Groups visiting Dublin are you interested in visiting the Worlds Largest Titanic exhibit plus plenty of free time to explore Belfast?

Building work Negotiations to acquire the one and a half acre White Linen Hall site, located in Donegall Square, began in 1896 and a price of £30,000 was agreed. Built by local firm H+J Martin, following a design from Alfred Brumwell Thomas, who won a public competition with his classical Renaissance design. Funding for the new building was raised from the profits of Belfast Gasworks

The first stone was laid in 1898 and building work was completed eight years later. In total, Belfast City Hall cost less than £500,000 to build. Belfast City Hall opened its doors on 1 August 1906 during a great time of prosperity for the city.

Today, the magnificent building is a lasting memorial to Belfast’s success and a great source of civic pride.

Free public tours of Belfast City Hall Led by an experienced guide, they last around one hour and uncover the history of Belfast City Hall, while exploring some of its finest features.

Times Public tours are available at the following times:

• Monday to Friday – 11am, 2pm and 3pm
• Saturday – 2pm and 3pm.

They are available on a first-come, first-served basis (no booking needed) and leave from the reception area inside Belfast City Hall. There are no tours on Sundays, bank holidays or public holidays.

Access From Monday – Friday, visitors can access City Hall via the front entrance on Donegall Square North, the side entrance on Donegall Square East and the back gate at Donegall Square South.

If you are taking part in one of our Saturday tours, please use the back gate entrance only.

Visit Belfast 2012 Must see

Albert Memorial Clock

Posted on February 10, 2012

While in Belfast on your Titanic Experience 
day tour from Dublin check out the Albert Memorial Clock situated at Queen’s Square
in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This leaning
clock tower was completed in 1869 and is
one of the best known landmarks of Belfast.
In 1865 a competition for the design of a memorial to Queen Victoria’s late Prince Consort, Prince Albert, was won by
W. J. Barre, who had earlier designed
Belfast’s Ulster Hall. Initially Barre was
not awarded his prize and the contract
was secretly given to Lanyon, Lynn,
and Lanyon, who had come second.
Following public outcry the contract
was eventually awarded to Barre. The construction cost of £2,500
(2011: £181,000) was raised by public subscription.

Being situated close to the docks, the tower was once infamous for being
frequented by prostitutes plying their trade with visiting sailors. However,
in recent years regeneration has turned the surrounding Queen’s Square and
Custom’s House Square into attractive, modern public spaces with trees,
fountains and sculptures.

The sandstone memorial was constructed between 1865 and 1869 by
Fitzpatrick Brothers builders and stands 113 feet tall in a mix of French
and Italian Gothic styles. The base of the tower features flying buttresses
with heraldic lions.
A statue of the Prince in the robes of a Knight of the Garter stands on the
western side of the tower and was sculpted by SF Lynn. A two tonne bell is
housed in the tower and the clock was made by Francis Moore of High
Street, Belfast.

As a result of being built on wooden piles on marshy, reclaimed land
around the River Farset, the top of the tower leans four feet off the
perpendicular. Due to this movement, some ornamental work on the belfry
was removed in 1924 along with a stone canopy over the statue of the Prince.

In 1947, the film Odd Man Out was filmed partly in Belfast, with the Albert
Clock as a central location, although neither the town nor the clock is explicitly identified.