Titanic Belfast

The building is located on Queen's Island, an area of land at the entrance of Belfast Lough which was reclaimed from the water in the mid-19th century. It was used for many years by the shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, who built huge slipways and graving docks to accommodate the simultaneous construction of the , and the . The decline of shipbuilding in Belfast left much of the area derelict. Most of the disused structures on the island were demolished. A number of heritage features were given listed status, including the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic slipways and graving docks, as well as the iconic Samson and Goliath cranes. The derelict land was renamed the "Titanic Quarter" in 2001 and…

CivicArts / Eric Kuhne and Associates were commissioned as concept architects, with Todd Architects appointed as lead consultants. The building's design is intended to reflect Belfast's history of shipmaking and the industrial legacy bequeathed by Harland & Wolff. Its angular form recalls the shape of ships' prows, with its main "prow" angled down the middle of the Titanic and Olympic slipways towards the River Lagan. Most of the building's façade is clad in 3,000 individual silver anodised aluminium shards. It stands 126 ft high, the same height as Titanics hull. The interior of the eight-storey building provides 12000 sqm of space. Its centrepiece is a series of interpretive galleries…

First year visitor numbers significantly exceeded projections, with 807,340 visitors passing through its doors, of which 471,702 were from outside Northern Ireland, according to Titanic Belfast. The attraction has also sold 1,376 bottles of champagne and hosted over 350 conferences. In 2015, there were 625,000 visitors. Titanic Belfast had a record-breaking year in 2017/18 with 841,563 people visiting the tourist attraction and the year before saw the Titanic Museum take home the World's Leading Tourism Attraction Award at the World Travel Awards (2016). In the same year, Titanic Belfast saw 84% of its visitors coming from outside Northern Ireland. It was the most visited tourist attraction…