The Titanic Experience opens in Belfast
April 2012 marks the centenary of the ill-fated maiden transatlantic voyage of SS Titanic.
Belfast is marking the event with the opening on 31st March of a brand new exhibition hall to celebrate the city's shipbuilding record. The museum occupies the site of the slipways where the hulls of Titanic and her sister ship Olympic were constructed, adjacent to the original Harland & Wolff drawing offices where plans for the ships were drawn up.
A little further down the quayside is the massive Hamilton graving dock built for these ships where visitors can get an impression of their sheer scale and the pumphouse housing the steam pumps neeeded to drain water from the dock.
Nearby in the Titanic Quarter of the city you can also see the last remaining White Star line ship, SS Nomadic (pictured). Much smaller in scale, she was built to serve as a tender to the Olympic and Titanic. She was recovered from Le Havre in 2006 and is now slowly being restored by local enthusiasts.