NORTHERN IRELAND HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2012          Belfast’s notable ship-building heritage includes the design, building and launch of the most famous ship ever built – the Titanic. This April the city where she was built will mark the centenary of her tragic sinking on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic in the city’s Titanic Quarter. The new Titanic Belfast experience is the world’s largest Titanic visitor attraction and is twice the size of Belfast’s City Hall. Opening on March 31, the six-storey attraction is filled with exhibitions uncovering the story of Titanic – its origins, construction, launch and history.
          In conjunction with the opening of the new Titanic Belfast attraction, the Titanic Belfast Festival will run from March 31 until May 2012 and will include plays, tours, exhibitions and talks all themed around the Titanic. Commemorations for the lives lost on the anniversary of the ship’s sinking will take place from April 14 to 15.
          MTV is coming back to Northern Ireland as part of the Titanic Belfast Festival this April after the enormous success of the EMAs in November 2011 to deliver not one but two major outdoor music events on the Titanic Slipways.

James Gordon, the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland

          Beginning June 30, Northern Ireland will host the largest outdoor theatre and arts event ever staged as it celebrates all things associated with giants – from the mythical giant of Finn McCool from the Giant’s Causeway to the literary giants featured in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (which was inspired by Belfast’s landscape). Located in the Titanic Quarter on the very slipways Titanic was launched, the Land of Giants will include a carnival, circus and music celebrating this theme.

Musician on Derry's ancient city wall

          Coinciding with its own Maritime Festival from June 30 to July 8, Derry~Londonderry will welcome the 10-strong international fleet as it plays host to the final transatlantic stage of the 40,000-mile race, with teams arriving from Nova Scotia, Canada, during the last leg. The city’s own yacht, the Derry~Londonderry, is promoting the city’s UK City of Culture 2013 status on its travels.

Photos copyright Anne Gordon

Posted on Thursday, 2nd February, 2012