World's largest RMS Titanic museum opens in Belfast

On April 14, 1912, the luxury liner RMS Titanic, just four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City, struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,514 lives. At the time, the massive, state-of-the-art ship was the largest vessel afloat and considered by many to be "virtually unsinkable." Built in Belfast, Northern Ireland by shipbuilding firm Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line at the then-astronomical cost of US$7.5 million, the ill-fated Titanic has been a source of pathos and fascination for nearly a century. To bring the remarkable ship's story to countless more future generations (and presumably give the local economy a shot in the arm) the government of Northern Ireland, the Belfast City Council and numerous private groups have pooled resources and created Titanic Belfast, a futuristic, US$160 million, nine-gallery museum - the world's largest exclusively dedicated to the ship and its only voyage. The facility finally opened late last month – just in time for the centennial of the tragedy coming up in a few days.

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Conceived by Todd Architects, CivicArts/Eric Kuhne Associates and Kay Elliott, the six-floor, 150,700 sq ft (14,000 sq m) museum's eye-catching exterior suggests four 90-foot (27 m) hulls pointing skyward, and is covered with 3,000 folded aluminum panels (designed by German façade specialist, Metallbau Frueh) which catch the light like facets on a gem. Located in an area rich with the ship's history, the Drawing Office where Titanic's plans were drawn up is adjacent, along with the Hamilton Graving Dock where her former tender, SS Nomadic, is still moored. The River Lagan, from which she was first launched, also flows nearby.

Inside, glass escalators line the four-story atrium and provide access to the museum's nine interpretive galleries, each loaded with interactive displays that allow visitors to explore every aspect of the Titanic's brief history. To evoke a sense of scale for the ship, one wall is decorated with copper-colored sheet metal panels similar in size to the riveted plates that made up Titanic's hull, and fans of fine woodwork will appreciate the efforts that went into creating an accurate, full-scale replica of the ship's original red oak Grand Staircase.

“A major challenge was the lack of complete drawings of the original staircase," Kay Elliot project director, Mark Muir, explained to WAN. "We developed a detailed 3D technical model based on photographs of the original staircase onboard Titanic’ssister ship Olympic – a job which involved painstaking detective work over several months so we could be as true to the design as possible.”

While interest in the Titanic has been building steadily as the 100th anniversary of its sinking approaches, there's been no shortage of controversy either. Since its discovery in 1985, numerous expeditions to the wreck site have resulted in the gathering of literally thousands of artifacts, an act viewed by many as desecration of what should remain a sacred site.

Recently, Guernsey's, a New York City auction house, announced its intent to sell a collection of 5,500 items salvaged from the wreck. Appraised value: US$189 million – greater than the estimated replacement cost of the ship itself! Evidently, capitalism knows no bounds. Now, the well-heeled can actually visit the ship via submersible for a cool US$60,000. Fortunately, Titanic Belfast appears to have taken a more sensitive, respectful approach in telling the story of this amazing vessel and the people whose lives it impacted – that alone appears to make it well worth a visit.

Miscellaneous Titanic Facts

The Titanic sets sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912

Although Titanic was the largest ship afloat when launched (older sister shipOlympic was slightly smaller) she appears rather diminutive compared to more modern vessels. At 882.75 feet (269.06 m) long with a maximum beam of 92.5 feet (28.19 m), she displaced 52,310 tons. For comparison, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, launched in 1967, measured 963 ft (293.5 m) in length and 105 ft (32.0 m) in the beam, but displaced only 48,923 tons, no doubt due to the use of lighter, man-made materials in its construction.


Titanic and her sister ships, Olympic and Britannic, were assembled on Queen's Island, now referred to as the Titanic Quarter, in Belfast Harbour. The Olympic's hull was started on December 16, 1908 followed by the Titanic's on March 31, 1909 – both took about 26 months to complete. With steel welding not yet mainstream, the ship's structure was joined with more than three million iron and steel rivets – over 1,200 tons worth.


Titanic's three massive propellers (three blades port and starboard, 4-blade, center) were capable of pushing her along at a cruising speed of 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h), 24 knots maximum (28 mph; 44 km/h), and were driven by two four-cylinder, triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines (port/starboard 15,000 bhp each) and a centrally-located, low-pressure Parsons turbine that produced 16,000 bhp.


Each reciprocating engine weighed 720 tons and was 63 feet (19 m) long. The steam to drive them was generated by 29 boilers (24 double-ended, 5 single-ended) which held a combined 159 furnaces. Each boiler was 15.75 feet (4.80 m) in diameter, 20 feet (6.1 m) long, weighed 91.5 tons and held 48.5 tons of water.