My favorites from historic Belfast, Northern Ireland
17.05.2023
Completed in 1869, the Albert Memorial Clock is one of Belfast's best known landmarks (and my favorite); the 113 ft tall clock, a memorial to Queen Victoria's Prince Consort, Prince Albert, sits on reclaimed soil with the top leaning 4 feet off perpendicular
Belfast City Hall, completed in 1906, is built in Baroque Revival style and is a monumental building constructed at a time when Belfast was the largest city on the island of Ireland; today Dublin has 588,000 people while Belfast has 345,000
A previous church, completed in 1776, was encased in an expansion of the Belfast Cathedral in 1899; the cathedral was nearly destroyed in World War II with repairs not being finished until 1981
Sisters Gertrude and Margaret Martin designed the impressive Creation mosaic in the Belfast Cathedral Baptistry; it took the sisters more than 7 years to hand-place the 150,000 glass pieces!
Writer C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898; among his most famous works were The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of fictional children’s books believed to have been inspired by hills, forests and castles around Belfast and across Northern Ireland
Designed to mimic the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Waterfront Hall opened in 1997 and was the first major civic project in Belfast since the 1930s; the arena has hosted concerts such as Carrie Underwood as well as Britain's Got Talent
St George's Market, completed in 1896, is the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast; the market today regularly holds music concerts with acts including Duffy, Newton Faulkner, Deep Purple, Biffy Clyro and Mark Ronson
The Grand Opera House opened in 1895 and has undergone extensive renovations multiple times (including now); the theater sustained extensive bomb damage in 1991 and 1993 during The Troubles
Belfast Central Library, opened in 1888, is a fine example of a public building at the height of the Victorian age; the library has a 3-floor interior with a sweeping staircase, a pillared foyer, and a domed first-floor reading room
Built in the mid-19th century as the headquarters of Ulster Bank, it was transformed into the Merchant Hotel in 2006; the largest chandelier in Ireland is inside measuring 19 feet high and 10 feet in diameter with 2600 blown out crystal pieces
St. George's Church, the oldest Church of Ireland church in Belfast, opened in 1816; the portico was built in 1788 as the main entrance of Ballyscullion House in County Londonderry but when the owner died it was disassembled and added to this church
Posted by VagabondCowboy 09:46
