Belfast City Hall visitor exhibition

City Hall Visitor Exhibition
Booking information updated on Friday 15 April 2022
Visitors with special requirements
Exhibition themes

Opening hours
Group visits
Gift shop

City Hall Visitor Exhibition

The permanent visitor exhibition opened in 2017 and is located on the ground floor east wing of Belfast City Hall.  It offers a self-guided journey from Belfast’s past to present, showing the vibrancy and diversity of the city across six themed zones. View the exhibition themes.

The exhibition stretches through 16 separate rooms, all presented within the original architecture of City Hall as designed by Alfred Brumwell Thomas in the late 1890s. It is free to enter the exhibition.
Opening hours

Normally, the City Hall Visitor Exhibition is open from Monday to Friday, from 9.30am to 5pm (last admission at 4pm). The exhibition and City Hall are closed at weekends, but this is kept under review.

For opening times during public and bank holidays, go to our Holiday arrangements.
Booking information updated on Friday 15 April 2022

You can book exhibition tickets for up to nine people by email exhibitionbookings@belfastcity.gov.uk

For walk-in bookings on the day of your visit, please go to City Hall reception and staff will help. Walk-in bookings are subject to availability per session.

The Visitor Exhibition is self-guided. You should arrive five minutes before your exhibition booking time and check in at City Hall reception.
Group visits

Groups of 10 people or over can book by email visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk
Entrance to the exhibition is free for community and school groups. Charges may apply for commercial tour groups.
Visitors with special requirements

We recommend that visitors or groups with special requirements contact us in advance. Please email visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk or call 028 9027 0456.

Induction loops

Induction loops are available at the Visitor Exhibition and Tour Reception, The Bobbin Coffee Shop and Gift Shop. The City Hall exhibition is fully wheelchair accessible on the ground floor of City Hall.

Sign Language

We have sign language videos that give an overview of each room in our exhibition in three languages. These can be downloaded to your device below arrival or downloaded on site.
Gift shop

The Gift Shop is currently not open, but operations are kept under review.
Exhibition themes

There are six main themes in our exhibition.

Our themes

The City, Growth and Governance

These 3 rooms explore the development of Belfast from its foundation in 1613 to the construction of City Hall with original hand drawn plans on display and Belfast’s historic royal charters. Highlights of this area include an interactive interface which allow visitors to explore the City Hall’s extensive portrait collection of former Lord Mayors and to view the oldest Mayoral robe in the collection of civic regalia embroidered with real gold thread. Visitors in this area can also view some priceless 'Freedom of the City' artefacts and learn more about this special honour.
The City at Work and Play

This area of the exhibition consisting of three rooms explores the industrial heritage of Belfast from its most famous ship Titanic to Belfast’s famous music venues and theatres. Highlights of these rooms include a stunning mahogany cabinet destined for the Captain’s cabin of Titanic which never made it on board.
City Speech and City Streets

These three rooms explore the rich heritage behinds Belfast’s unique words and phrases, an opportunity to interact with the Belfast street directory of 1897 and a room exploring the games played by the children of Belfast along the City’s streets in years gone by.
The City Commemorates

Four rooms exploring the religious and political divisions of Belfast examining how they have both shaped and been shaped by history locally, nationally and internationally. Artefacts in these areas include the famous Covenant Table from 1912, artifacts from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Blitz of Belfast in 1941.
The Reflection Space

This is a unique area allowing visitors to read archived experiences of the City citizen’s recorded during the traumatic years of ‘the troubles’ and to pause and reflect on this painful period in the City’s recent past.
The City Celebrates

The exhibition finishes with two rooms which celebrate the famous sons and daughters of Belfast who have put Belfast on the map for their incredible diverse achievements in the worlds of Science, Technology, Sport, Literature, Music and Art to name but a few!