Northern Ireland
Things you probably didn't know about Belfast
The city that built the Titanic, birthed Narnia, and now hosts Westeros.
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1911 — fact 1 of 5
The Titanic was built here
Harland & Wolff launched RMS Titanic from Belfast in May 1911. "She was fine when she left us" is the local line.
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1898 — fact 2 of 5
C.S. Lewis was born here
The creator of Narnia arrived in Belfast in 1898; the Mourne Mountains are said to have inspired his landscapes.
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1969 — fact 3 of 5
Two yellow cranes watch over the city
Samson and Goliath, the Harland & Wolff gantry cranes from 1969 and 1974, are protected landmarks of the shipyard.
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2010 — fact 4 of 5
Game of Thrones made its home here
From 2010, the series was largely filmed at Titanic Studios and across Northern Ireland’s castles and coastlines.
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Fact 5 of 5
A giant’s causeway down the road
Forty miles away, the 60-million-year-old basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway tumble into the North Atlantic.
Our Belfast collection is part of a growing local-history library — more cities and facts are being added.