Heritage trails and the framing of place authenticity in Belfast’s Titanic memoryscape

Abstract

Titanic heritage tourism has recently become a major objective in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as civic leaders look to leverage the infamous liner’s local origins to advance the city’s post-industrial, post-conflict economic development. Much of this activity has centred on the Titanic Quarter, a new residential, commercial, and cultural district emerging in the historic docklands of East Belfast. This district is home to Titanic Belfast, an ostentatious, new-build visitor attraction created to tell a celebratory, Belfast-focused Titanic origin story. Titanic Belfast is surrounded by numerous heritage elements once associated with the Harland and Wolff shipyards where Titanic was built, which have been incorporated into two heritage trails traversing the Titanic Quarter. This article draws on literature related to authenticity, heritage trails, and memoryscapes to interrogate how these trails underscore the place authenticity of the heritage assets dispersed throughout the Titanic Quarter. It also examines how these trails position Titanic Belfast as the focal point of a vast and coherent maritime heritage memoryscape, revealing a symbiotic relationship whereby Titanic Belfast draws people and capital to the area while the authentic heritage elements nearby furnish the ‘credibility armour’ needed to justify this grandiose new signature attraction and the celebratory narrative it offers visitors.

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