Belfast City Hall

Belfast City Hall is the civic centrepiece of the city, a great Baroque Revival building of Portland stone that occupies an entire block of Donegall Square. The interior — a grand marble entrance hall, ornate council chamber, and magnificent rotunda — is open to the public on free guided tours, which are excellent and provide a good introduction to the city's history.

The building sits in landscaped grounds that are used for public events, markets, and the Christmas ice rink. The grounds also contain the Titanic Memorial Garden — a garden dedicated to those who died, with stones listing their names. The view of City Hall from the top of the Victoria Square shopping centre dome is one of the better elevated perspectives on the city centre.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The City Hall was completed in 1906, when Belfast was at the height of its industrial and commercial power — the largest city in Ireland, the linen capital of the world, with the biggest shipyard on earth. The building's baroque pomp was a statement of civic confidence. In the grounds, a bronze statue of Queen Victoria faces the city centre; at the back, a memorial records the names of Belfast's Titanic victims.