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City Hall
The permanent visitor exhibition opened in 2017 and is located on the ground floor east wing of Belfast City Hall. It offers a journey from Belfast’s past to present, showing the vibrancy and diversity of the City across six themed zones. 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 for individuals but booking is essential.
Visitors can hire and audio guide which offers additional content and is available in eight different languages (English, Irish, Ulster-Scots, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Polish). You can also buy a commemorative booklet for just £1.
Free to download, the app offers self-guided tour notes for our stained glass window collection and the monuments and memorials in City Hall grounds.
You can also download a copy of our multi-language audio content for £1.99 which adds additional information and interviews from the people of Belfast to enhance your self-guided tour. Please note the audio tour is not a translation of the exhibition displays.
The City Hall Visitor Exhibition is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm (last admission time is 4pm).
The Exhibition and City Hall are currently not open at weekends, but this will be kept under review.
We are unable to accommodate commercial tour groups, community or school groups at this time, but this will be kept under review and we endeavour to provide this service soon.
Individual bookings can be made for up to 15 people per 15 minute time slot.
For enquiries, please email visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk or call 028 9027 0456.
We recommend that visitors or groups with special requirements contact us in advance to find out. Please email visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk or call 028 9027 0456.
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.
The Gift Shop is currently not open, but operations will be kept under review.
There are six main themes in our exhibition.
Our themes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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!
For more information and advice, get in touch.
visitcityhall@belfastcity.gov.uk
Belfast City Hall, Donegall Square, Belfast, BT1 5GS,
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