Titanic Memorial Gardens Belfast

Interested in Titanic, ever wanted to know the names of those 1st class, second class, steerage passengers and crew that lost their life on RMS Titanic, well know you can with the Titanic Memorial Garden opened on the eastside of Belfast City Hall. The gardens were opened on the 15th April 2012 to mark the centenary of the sinking of that great ship.

There are many stories about Titanic such as the band playing hymns to calm the passengers, the millionaire that tried to buy his way onto a life boat or even the claim that headlines at the time claimed:

'Not even God could sink this ship'

But the most important aspect of all our remembrances' is encapsulated in this memorial, the names of those souls lost, that night.

The gardens are built around an existing Titanic monument, designed by Sir Thomas Brock and first unveiled in the middle of the road in front of Belfast City Hall in 1920 but it was later considered a danger and moved in 1959 into the grounds of the City Hall.

There is a danger to think of R.M.S Titanic as a film, a myth, legend or even joke but Titanic's collision with an iceberg but on the 15th April 2012 Titanic sunk with a great cost, 1500 lives were lost, 700 survivors scarred, families and reputations were destroyed, children were left without parents, wives without husbands and all because men believed Titanic unsinkable, we and Belfast in particular should be careful about how we remember this great loss on one of our ships.

100 years on Belfast reflects the loss of this great liner, which sunk on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, in their memory the garden's memorial plinth lists in alphabetical order the names of 1,512 people who perished on RMS Titanic that night and it should be noted that this is the first time that the names of everyone who perished have been recorded on one monument and as such has been named 'The Belfast List'.

A visit to the memorial will allow you to reflect on man's achievements and mistakes, those who sacrificed their lives by the playing of hymns such as 'Nearer my God to Thee' in order to restrain panic and those who never made it on deck, don't allow its exploitation by commercial companies to cheapen its memory or the lessons you can learn from, oh so great a loss!