Belfast City

Upon arriving in Belfast under a grey sky, the first thing greeting us was the modernist Titanic museum with its glittering structure serving as a memorial to the roughly 1, 500 lives lost in the shipwreck catastrophe in 1912. Itself looking like a ship pointing out into the sea, the building hosts a historical exhibition and multimedia experiences to immerse yourself into the dramatic history of the famous ship. After entering, you could imagine well why the RMS Titanic and her fate inspired so much literature and so many films (the most famous one with Leonardo DiCaprio in 1997).

The Queen's University of Belfast with its blocky (almost Minecraft-like) Neo-Gothic style is ranked among the Top 200 Universities worldwide. Its focus lies on technology, though the interior is designed very traditionally. You could very well distinguish the British influence that is firmly established in Northern Ireland. (Please, no more Harry Potter comparisons... it's obvious enough! ).

But what are the historical roots of this interesting region? This colourful mural painting depicts in a celebratory fashion the Battle of the Boyne (1690), in which the Protestant William III of Orange (a Dutch prince) defeated the Catholic James II, ensuring Protestant reign in England, Ireland and Scotland. The Protestant principle of "sola scriptura" (faith based on scripture instead of authority) is symbolised with the Holy Bible on top. "Cemented with love" may sound cynical in the face of such violent conflict... below you see an example of modern terrorism.

This mural stems from the time of The Troubles, a politico-social conflict that lasted from the 1960s to 1998 when an agreement was found. The Ulster Voluntary Force was a paramilitary group fighting Irish republicanism (especially the Irish Republican Army, its Irish Catholic counterpart) under the motto "For God and Ulster". Over 50, 000 casualties, most of which civilians, made this conflict a bitter one... it was very creepy to walk through streets in Europe with such a recent bloody history and war signs on the walls. There is still a huge wall separating the Royalist from the Republican quarters, and I heard it is still closed at night! Also, our tour guide showed us a building under construction work where a bomb had exploded two weeks before our visit. This was quite a shocking experience! However, we were safe.

In the end, we could enjoy the sunset and panoramic view over the city from this glass cupola!

The highlight of the night was the Festival of Light, an annual multicultural festival in which the city is illuminated with blue lights as you can see here... there was live music, Indian dance, food from around the world, but also techno. Yes. With this experience, we headed on to Derry, a town which played an important part in The Troubles, as you will read in my next post. Stay tuned!