Belfast is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the second-largest city on the island of Ireland, with an estimated population of 348,005 in 2022, and a metropolitan area population of 671,559.
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act 1960 for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people", thus functioning as a national library. It is located in Parkes, Canberra, ACT.
The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, and one of the components of National Museums Northern Ireland.
The culture of Northern Ireland relates to the traditions of Northern Ireland. Elements of the Culture of Ulster, the Culture of Ireland as a whole, the Culture of Scotland and the Culture of England are to be found.
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Engaged Communities Group of the Department for Communities (DfC).
The Linen Hall Library is located at 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Northern Ireland. The Library is physically in the centre of Belfast, and more generally at the centre of the cultural and creative life of the wider community. It is an independent and charitable body.
The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade A listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences.
Medbh McGuckian is a poet from Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including performances at the Belfast Festival, the BBC Proms, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The orchestra currently employs 63 full-time musicians and 17 administrative support staff.
The Cathedral Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a developing area of the city, roughly situated between Royal Avenue near where the Belfast Central Library building is, and the Dunbar Link in the city centre. From one of its corners, the junction of Royal Avenue, Donegall Street and York Street, the Cathedral Quarter lies south and east. Part of the area, centred on Talbot Street behind the cathedral, was formerly called the Half Bap. The "Little Italy" area was on the opposite side of Great Patrick Street centred on Little Patrick Street and Nelson Street.
John Harold Hewitt was perhaps the most significant Belfast poet to emerge before the 1960s generation of Northern Irish poets that included Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon and Michael Longley. He was appointed the first writer-in-residence at Queen's University Belfast in 1976. His collections include The Day of the Corncrake (1969) and Out of My Time: Poems 1969 to 1974 (1974). He was also made a Freeman of the City of Belfast in 1983, and was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast.
The culture of Belfast, much like the city, is a microcosm of the culture of Northern Ireland. Hilary McGrady, chief executive of Imagine Belfast, claimed that "Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation that has the potential to reverberate across Europe." Belfast is split between two rarely-overlapping vibrant cultural communities, a high-culture of opera, professional theatre, filmmaking and the visual arts and a more popular or commercial culture. Throughout the short years of troubles, Belfast tried to express itself through art and music. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the city has a growing international cultural reputation
The Irish Traditional Music Archive, operating as a charity, is a "national reference archive and resource centre for the traditional song, instrumental music and dance of Ireland". Focusing on Irish traditional music, Irish dance and their history, the archive covers the performance traditions of the island of Ireland, within the Irish diaspora, and other performers of Irish traditional music globally.
The Armagh County Museum is a museum in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Located on the edge of the tree-lined Mall in the centre of Armagh city, the museum is the oldest County Museum in Ireland and was officially opened in 1937.
The Northern Ireland Music Archive is a digital archive of materials related to music from Northern Ireland. It is based on a publicly accessible computer system situated in the Music Library at Belfast Central Library, Belfast, County Antrim. The archive has been funded and developed by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Deborah Brown was a Northern Irish sculptor. She is well known in Ireland for her pioneering exploration of the medium of fibre glass in the 1960s and established herself as one of the country's leading sculptors, achieving extensive international acclaim.
Carolyn MulhollandHRHA, HRUA is an Irish sculptor.
Parkway Central Library also known as Free Library or Central Library is the main public library building and administrative headquarters of the Free Library of Philadelphia system. It is the largest library, and only research library, of 54 library branches in the Free Library system.
Paul Nietsche was a Ukrainian artist and teacher who emigrated to Ulster in 1936 where he became a central figure on the Belfast artistic and literary scenes between the 1930s and his death in 1950.
Portstewart Town Hall is a municipal structure in The Crescent, Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The structure, which has been closed to the public since December 2019, is a Grade B2 listed building.
