Titanic Quarter To Revive City's Heritage

Belfast is set to finally commemorate its full maritime and industrial heritage.

It has just been revealed that one of the main objectives of a new initiative, the ‘Titanic Signature Project’, is to record and celebrate the city’s great maritime and industrial heritage.

Robin Newton, MLA, and east Belfast councillor, has been keen on developing such a scheme for some time.

He explained that National Museums Northern Ireland has already commissioned a feasibility study on a ‘Museum of Sea and Sky’ project within Titanic Quarter, the major commercial development being built at present in part of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard.

He said: “Discussions took place with National Museums on the possibility of an interpretation of Belfast’s maritime and industrial heritage within the context of the current plans for the regeneration of the area.

“Already, National Museums, via the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum (UFTM) site, holds key archival collections in the form of technical drawings and photographs related to Harland & Wolff and continues to have an ongoing relationship with the company in terms of collecting and making collections accessible.

“Additionally, the museum has collaborated with the ‘Titanic Made In Belfast’ exhibitions staged by Belfast City Council and more latterly has presented a profile-raising ‘Titanic Built In Belfast’ exhibition in Washington D.C. as part of the ‘Rediscover Northern Ireland’ programme.

“Building on the collections, the museum has, for example, already created an innovative new website ‘Titanic Built In Belfast’ www.titanicinbelfast.com

“Also in development, in partnership with Bombardier Aerospace, is a major interactive flight experience exhibition that presents and illustrates the Shorts story and the Northern Ireland aviation industry in an international context,” he explained.

Turning to the latest news, he said that when the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland moves to a new location in the Titanic Quarter in 2010, it will be immediately associating itself with its new geographical location through this existing archive holdings.

“This is good news for Belfast as it means they intend to build on that association in terms of acquiring appropriate archives, exploiting the existing material, and to cut a long story short: to fully recognise Belfast’s full maritime and industrial heritage!

“I am also pleased to say that the Assembly’s Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure is fully supportive of the proposed development of this new, innovative ‘Titanic Signature Project ‘within the wider Titanic Quarter redevelopment.

“I very much look forward to the completion of what will be, when finished, a unique, authorative guide to what was once Belfast’s proud engineering heritage,” he concluded.

(BMcC)