It’s been 111 years and I can still smell the fresh paint: Rare artefacts added to Titanic Experience in Belfast

It’s been 111 years and I can still smell the fresh paint: Rare artefacts added to Titanic Experience in Belfast
By Dan lake


For the first time ever, rare artefacts from the Titanic are on public display adding a powerful new dimension to Belfast’s Titanic Experience.

The highly anticipated reimagined Titanic Experience, which opened on 4 March at Titanic Belfast, includes four new galleries and a model replica of the ship.

Adding a very personal element to the refreshed exhibition is the display of a number of extremely rare artefacts which are of great historical significance.

The 15 items are mostly personal effects from those who lost their lives in the tragic sinking; they create an intense emotional connection to the Titanic’s passengers and crew.

The items include the world-famous violin belonging to the ship’s hero musician, Wallace Hartley, which has been described as one of the rarest and most iconic objects of the 20th century.

A rare manifest ticket, stamped 10 April 1912, and a pocket watch belonging to passenger Malcolm Joakim Johnson are also part of the exhibition.

The hands of the corroded Omega watch are frozen in time at 1.37am, the exact moment Johnson was immersed into the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

Other items highlight the sheer size of the liner.

A Plan of First Class accommodation, which was issued exclusively to First Class passengers to help them navigate the luxury liner, belonged to Ellen Bird, the personal maid to Ida Straus, whose husband owned Macy’s department store in New York.

A set of five rare original glass plate photographs of Titanic’s launch in Belfast on 31 May 1911, and several personal letters present a window back in time.

Also on display are a deck chair bearing the distinctive insignia of the White Star Line, one of only six known to have survived, and a rare lifejacket.

The refreshed Titanic experience introduces ‘The Pursuit of Dreams’ as a new theme and combines immersive new technology with this original maritime heritage collection and the authentic Titanic story to deliver an enriched, emotive experience.

A new centrepiece of the experience is an illuminated replica model of RMS Titanic, which is suspended from the ceiling.

It rotates to highlight different areas of the ship in line with the stories being told through colourful projections on the walls around it.

An original score has been recorded to add further emotion and drama to the retelling of the story that has fascinated the world for over 100 years.

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