If you are browsing Belfast City, then your pay a visit to will not be finish until you take a look at Queen’s University. It was established back again in 1845 and has survived and flourished as an institution of studying, with a great track record all through the earth.
The Queen’s University has a coat of arms which has a crown in its centre soon after its founder Queen Victoria. Earlier mentioned that is the e book of understanding, to the still left the crimson hand which symbolises the Province of Ulster, to the right is the seahorse representing the town of Belfast and in the bottom quadrant is the harp representing Ireland.
It has been identified as:
- Queen’s College or university 1845-1881
- Royal University 1881-1908
- Queen’s College 1908 onwards
Queen’s University is positioned just a ten moment wander from Belfast Metropolis Centre on College Street and is shut to Botanic Gardens. It is properly signal posted from the Metropolis Centre so should really be effortless to locate. If you favor a taxi, then it is only a couple of minute’s travel to get there. When you arrive go to the front of the college which I have shown in the image above. On your proper you will see a compact terrace of brown brick residences which back again in 1845, marked the end of Belfast City boundary.
Continue to searching to your right you will see the terrace of College Sq. which was crafted in a Georgian type as a speculative enterprise between 1849 and 1872. The staff members could not manage these residences other than for one person, the initial Faculty Bursar, Alexander Dickey, who as it transpired was also a greengrocer. The University owns all of these now and is in my belief the most effective instance of terrace housing from Georgian Belfast.
If you switch about from right here and glance throughout the highway you will see the Student’s Union which was opened in 1966, just three a long time in advance of The Troubles started off, and it has all the architectural attributes (or lack of) from that era. To the still left of that is Elmwood Hall, which was as soon as a church and at its front is a War Memorial to the Queens men and women of all ages who died in both of those World Wars. This was unveiled by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1924.
To the remaining once again is the Sir William Whitla Corridor, created by John McCreagh which began to be constructed in 1939 and was finished in 1946. It breaks with the custom of Tudor Gothic which the relaxation of the University is dependent on. It is time to transform again around now and once once again check out the entrance of the College. Appear right by the gates and you will see the primary higher education, designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1849. Lanyon is almost certainly the most famous architect in Belfast and also designed, 38 churches, Custom’s House, the Queen’s Bridge and the Antrim Coast Street. Very a pedigree!
He was a residence speculator and also became the Lord Mayor of Belfast. In my opinion Queen’s College is his crowning glory and if you glimpse carefully, you will observe the spires, the gargoyles, the flattened arches all completed in red brick. This was a well-known fashion in the mid 19th Century and was produced common by Barry and Pugin who finished the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Lanyon, supposedly utilized the Founder’s Tower at Magdalen School in Oxford as his inspiration to develop Queens. Initially there had been classrooms to the remaining, the President’s Business was in the actual tower, the Good Hall is on your correct and the tower past was the house of the Vice-President of the School.
Stroll by way of the gates and now transfer into the University the place you will be greeted by the Entrance Corridor. You ought to now be standing on a mosaic flooring which displays the arms of the Province of Ulster, quartered with the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria.. This crimson hand theme, the image of the Province of Ulster is a pattern that persists throughout the College. Go through the doors and immediately in front of you, you will see a statue of Galileo developed by Pio Fedi. Sir William Whitla brought this statue again from Italy and gave it to the College.
On the image on the remaining, seem above the statue of Galileo and you will see a beautiful stained glass window. This was created in 1939 by J.E.Nuttgens but was not erected till just after the 2nd globe war. However again the crimson hand is present right here as nicely as the other symbols of Queen’s College.
To your remaining the place you have just entered is the Queen’s Customer Centre and at its entrance you will obtain a plaque in honour of Edwin Godkin. He remaining Queens without a diploma and turned a war correspondent in the Crimean War. He inevitably emigrated to the United States and founded “The Country” which he edited for 35 decades. Go as a result of this doorway and change proper and follow the stairs to the landing. To your ideal is the Canada Place which was at the time applied for lectures and as Zoology museum, just before getting workplaces and then remaining redesigned by Robert McKinstry in 1986. The room is panelled in Canadian Maple and adorned with the coats of arms of Canada.
You can now go via the double doorways into the Tutorial Council Chamber and into what was at the time a lecture place. This offers you an concept of the comprehensive peak of the constructing and you can see the famous Lanyon roof trusses. Go back out to the landing now and as a result of the double doors which should really be going through you. This is the Artwork Gallery, exactly where there should really be a Curator present to demonstrate the hottest exhibition. Go again downstairs and after once more into the Entrance Hall. Abide by the indications now to the Wonderful Hall.
Make sure you view the video earlier mentioned which offers you some appealing information about the Good Corridor. This hall was made use of as a refectory and evaluation hall. In advance of leaving, notice the portrait of the man in the overcoat, crimson scarf and hat who is identified as “Dickie Hunter.” He was a lecturer in anatomy and secretary of the University and his interest was to prepare Christmas Circuses in Belfast Town and act as the ringmaster. His unusual pose is in all probability greatest spelled out as he researched art in Paris. Now go again by means of the entrance doors and convert still left going outside and into a quadrangle. Listed here you can see the back again of the authentic college or university with some later on additions.
You are standing in the cloisters and proper behind you, up on the chimney breast, you can see the cipher “VR” (Victoria Regina) with the day 1848. Opposite you can see the well known window in the chimney, which is in which Thomas Andrews and a distinguished chemist experienced his fume cupboard. In the middle of the cloistered facade is the clock. It was not Lanyon’s intention to produce a quadrangle and this only arrived about all through a rebuilding programme from 1910-1912.. Appear to your ideal and you will see the Faculty of Physics, whit an additional good tower which was designed by William Henry Lynn in 1911. Immediately reverse is the Library Tower erected in 1952 and next to that is the Peter Froggatt teaching centre. If you now stroll across the quadrangle and as a result of the 1952 Arch, instantly in entrance of you is the College Library also made by Lynn. You will notice here a modify in architectural model and this affect is down to John Ruskin and the “Ruskinesque Gothic” fashion.
The library was prolonged in 1911 and it has in fact been re-modelled quite a few periods. The as soon as open areas of the library have now provided way to guide stacks. The library as you can think about is constantly in use and a guideline is demanded if you desire to stop by. Go by way of the archway between the library structures and you will see the total scale of the University Square with its massive bay home windows. Return back as a result of the arches and when you change remaining you will appear to the College of Songs. Likely back again as considerably as 1895 was a healthcare faculty with a university bolted on. The then clinical learners raised cash and designed the authentic male Pupil Union, which is the central part of this outstanding block. It has been extended 2 times in 1911 and then in 1933. It is now recognised as the Harty Space and in my impression has the best hammer beam roof in Eire.
Go inside of and appreciate by turning correct and walking up to the McMordie Hall, which was after a debating chamber with stained glass windows. This is not always open up and you might have to request at reception for entry. After completed there walk down the ramp and you can then take a look at the Seamus Heaney Library which stands on the site of what was the previous drill corridor. Turn correct there and go up the steps and you can visit the old Physic’s Tower on your left. It is an strange piece of architecture and you will see higher than the arch the outdated Royal College coat of arms, which was carved by Morris Harding in 1948, along with the shamrocks, leeks roses and thistles carved on the vaults. You will also see the arms of Lord Kelvin and the Earl of Rosse and on the much facet of the archway the arms of Sir Isaac Newton and the Earls of Cork and Orrey.
Your tour finishes below as you return again to the College entrance. With any luck , this tour will have specified you a perception of all those who have passed by means of its halls, and a perception of the know-how that has been developed and discovered around the many years. We at the Belfast Town Website, would completely recommend this tour.
