The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum has two wings, as the name suggests – one showing the traditions and way of life of the people of Northern Ireland, while the other is a collection of cars, locomotives, trams, horse-drawn carriages, planes, bicycles and even pogo sticks. There are no prizes for guessing which is more popular with young children.
The transport museum is the home to an enormous collection of 500 vehicles of all sizes, many of them in a converted aerodrome on several levels. Several of the exhibits are accessible for climbing on or inside to help understand the realities of travel through the ages. The Irish Railway section is particularly large, and the “Wheels of Business” shows how the early years of the motor car transformed Ireland’s culture.
There is also a permanent exhibition devoted to the Titanic, which was built and launched in Belfast, before sinking on its maiden voyage in 1912.
The folk museum delves into the realities of daily life in Ulster at the beginning of the 20th Century. Visitors can walk through the fictional village of Ballycultra – the museum is in the Belfast suburb of Cultra – which has everything a settlement of the period would have. There are farms, with farmers’ cottages and livestock, and a village with churches, shops and all types of housing from dingy single-room shacks to well-furnished homes. Each of the buildings was found around Northern Ireland and has been carefully dismantled then rebuilt at the museum.
The museum also holds the archives for Northern Ireland’s film, TV and radio output, which is open to the public during office hours.
