h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Amongst the various memorials in Belfast, the star attraction is the shiny exhibition and conference centre, Titanic Belfast. Built in the heart of the newly styled "Titanic Quarter" of the city, this stunning building is situated on the slipways where Titanic and Olympic were built, side by side.

It has been advertised widely, even on the Tube Stations in London, and visitor numbers in the weeks following its opening were massive, selling out its available tickets weeks in advance. The numbers need to be big though, to make the business case for this £100m attraction stack up.

An adult ticket costs £13 - to locals, this is a bit steep, but vistors from far afield find this reasonable. This ticket gives a timed entry to 4 interactive galleries, charting the rise of industrial Belfast, the political backdrop to the early 20th century, and what it was like to work in the shipyards, before getting into the specifics of the construction of Titanic, her fateful voyage, and the subsequent myths, musicals and movies. It finishes with the discovery of the wreck, and current scientific underwater exploration around the coast of Ireland.

Even without paying the gallery entrance fee, visitors can still access the building, complete with shop selling all manner of things with a picture of the ship on it, to cafes selling individual apple pies the size of which I have not previously encountered.

The slipways, on the very spot where the ships were built, now form an open-air plaza, which can be used as a concert venue (e.g. MTV Titanic Sounds on Fri 13 April 2012). Tall poles outline the shapes of the 2 ships, and these are lit up at night, forming a ghostly silhouette. The names of all those who died are etched on glass panels at the top end of the slipways, and other information boards about the plaza give the visitor additional facts and figures. Tours of the drawing offices next door are also available at £2.50.

The building itself has a number of design features:
1. it is the height of the ship.
2. It has 4 protruding corners, which look like ships prows.
3. From above, it forms a star shape, for the White Star Line.
4. It is covered in aluminium panels, which give a shimmering effect as of light on rippling water.

Excellent - I've added this to the article. (I did change the bit about the apple pie as I'm trying to avoid writing 'I'. Have a read through and let me know if you've got any objections).

I'm very glad we're working together on this.

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The article is in Peer Review, the thread is here: F48874?thread=8292948
You know the photograph of the museum in your article for ? Did you take that, and if you did, can I use it in the article?

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Yes I took that one, and feel free to use it! I might have better onces since then though, that still has a wire fence round it as it was taken just prior to opening.

I'll use this one for now. If the article is recommended by the Scouts I'll see if we can replace it with one of your more recent photos if you think they'll be better, if you're happy to e-mail me later on.

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Do you still wish to have a different photograph of the Titanic museum? If so, you can e-mail it to me or the artists - artists at h2g2 dot com and state it's for the Remembering RMS Titanic - Commemorating the Centenary of her Sinking article. Let me know whether you will be and I'll let everyone know to look out for it.

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I shall have a rootle around my photo archive later on.

I have sent one in - it's taken from the rear of the building and includes the poles which outline the hulls of the 2 ships, Titanic and Olympic, which were built side by side, on the actual slipway where they were constructed.

Thanks - that's great

I'm not able to log into the h2g2 artists trello board on my home computer so won't be able to see it until Monday, but I look forward to doing so.

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