Titanic Belfast Highlights Commemorative Centennial Events
Titanic Remembrance Day on April 15 is an annual observance dedicated to the memory of the 1,500 lives lost in the early hours of April 15, 1912. The most enduring tribute to the Titanic is Titanic Belfast, which opened on March 31, in Belfast, Ireland, where the ship was actually built.
Taking three years to construct, the same time it took to build the ship, the $155 million Titanic Belfast also puts a signature on the city's skyline. Located on the same slips that launched the ship, the angular, aluminum-clad building is the exact height of the original (93 feet).
A walk around the star-shaped perimeter of the six-story Titanic Belfast gives a sense of being dwarfed under the prow of a gigantic vessel and references the White Star Line, the company that owned Titanic.
Titanic Belfast provides nine interactive galleries that tell the whole story from design and building to sinking and rediscovery by mini-sub. The facility also has a 1,000-seat banqueting suite that includes a replica of the Grand Staircase from the ship's first class section.
There are full-scale reconstructions of first, second and third class cabins, and a replica of a Titanic lifeboat that interprets the aftermath of the sinking. Voices of survivors, recorded in the 1960s, recount that horrifying night. In the final gallery, “Titanic Beneath,” the visitor has access to high-definition footage from the wreckage.
In addition to Titanic Belfast, a 12-night Titanic Memorial Cruise departed England on April 8 carrying passengers from 28 countries on the MS Balmoral. The chartered sailing retraces the original route of the Titanic and carries the exact number of passengers as the famed ship. Some of the passengers onboard are relatives of those on the Titanic. A special memorial service will also take place at the exact moment Titanic hit the iceberg.
Elsewhere, Titanic 100 Cobh 2012 is a year-long commemoration in its last port of call -- Cobh, Ireland. On this side of the Atlantic, the Titanic Centennial Memorial Weekend is a three-day event that begins April 20.
The Titanic Centennial Memorial Unveiling and Dedication will take place on April 21, at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Springfield, Mass. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 22. On television, National Geographic, PBS, ABC (a "Titanic” miniseries on April 14 and 15), The History Channel and The Discovery Channel are all doing Titanic specials.
