Belfast! (warning: image-heavy)
May. 19th, 2013 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mary_j_59My mom was born in Galway, and my Dad's mother in Banagher, so I've been to the west fairly often to visit Mom's family (and once to visit Dad's). I have, however, never been to the North of Ireland. This month, when I went over to Galway to visit my aunt, I told her I'd like to go on a literary pilgrimage to Belfast. This picture shows why.
There are more pictures, as well as explanations, under the cut.
This one Digory Kirke, as a young man, opening the wardrobe he's had built of Narnian applewood. It's outside a little branch library in East Belfast, not far from the neighborhood where Lewis was born. In the branch, there are two portraits of Lewis. Children of the neighborhood sketched them from photographs. One is taken from a photo of "Jacksie" Lewis at 7, and the second is from near the end of his life, when he's about 60. It was very touching to see them. A lovely library assistant also helped me look through the vertical file and copy the article about the statue and its dedication. It's the first monument of any kind to Lewis in Belfast, his home town. And I think it's quite lovely. When my sister saw it, she said, "And you can sit in the chair, can't you?" I should think you could! The statue rather invites interaction, as well as introspection. But it was a wet day when I saw it, so I didn't try. Here are the two portraits of Lewis:
My aunt - an intrepid woman; she drove! - insisted that we find the library and the statue. We also saw the Titanic museum. I'm no fan of the recent movie, but the people of the city are very proud of this museum, and rightly so. The docks were a big part of life for many people in Belfast, and the social history - shipbuilding, lace-making, strikes, and so on - was really interesting. Of course, there were several people from the city on the Titanic when she sailed, and that social history of rich and poor got replicated on the boat. Fascinating stuff.
We also took a bus tour out to the Antrim coast, which is stunningly beautiful. We saw the Giant's causeway and the Carrick -a-rede rope bridge. I walked across this bridge and have the certificate to prove it!
One last thing we did was to take a bus tour of the city. We saw Stormont, Campbell College, where C.S. Lewis went to school briefly as a small boy of 12 or so, and the peace walls. Our guide thought it sad that people still wanted to be separated by walls - but they do. At first, I couldn't imagine why. As our guide said, there are now areas of the city where people do mix, and Eeverywhere we went in the north, the people were friendly and helpful. But, as I listened to the guide on the bus and read a local paper or two,I learned that the divisions between Catholics and Protestants are still very deep. To give one example, the Protestants still insist that Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers were nothing but terrorists, and there should be no memorial of any sort for them. In both Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, there are also "peace gardens" - memorials to the innocent victims of terror. It may take generations for the people to put the Troubles behind them.
I've got to say, though, we could have spent far longer in Belfast. Perhaps I'll go back some day - maybe with my sisters. In closing, here is a modern resident and an ancient one!
There are more pictures, as well as explanations, under the cut. This one Digory Kirke, as a young man, opening the wardrobe he's had built of Narnian applewood. It's outside a little branch library in East Belfast, not far from the neighborhood where Lewis was born. In the branch, there are two portraits of Lewis. Children of the neighborhood sketched them from photographs. One is taken from a photo of "Jacksie" Lewis at 7, and the second is from near the end of his life, when he's about 60. It was very touching to see them. A lovely library assistant also helped me look through the vertical file and copy the article about the statue and its dedication. It's the first monument of any kind to Lewis in Belfast, his home town. And I think it's quite lovely. When my sister saw it, she said, "And you can sit in the chair, can't you?" I should think you could! The statue rather invites interaction, as well as introspection. But it was a wet day when I saw it, so I didn't try. Here are the two portraits of Lewis:
My aunt - an intrepid woman; she drove! - insisted that we find the library and the statue. We also saw the Titanic museum. I'm no fan of the recent movie, but the people of the city are very proud of this museum, and rightly so. The docks were a big part of life for many people in Belfast, and the social history - shipbuilding, lace-making, strikes, and so on - was really interesting. Of course, there were several people from the city on the Titanic when she sailed, and that social history of rich and poor got replicated on the boat. Fascinating stuff.
We also took a bus tour out to the Antrim coast, which is stunningly beautiful. We saw the Giant's causeway and the Carrick -a-rede rope bridge. I walked across this bridge and have the certificate to prove it!
One last thing we did was to take a bus tour of the city. We saw Stormont, Campbell College, where C.S. Lewis went to school briefly as a small boy of 12 or so, and the peace walls. Our guide thought it sad that people still wanted to be separated by walls - but they do. At first, I couldn't imagine why. As our guide said, there are now areas of the city where people do mix, and Eeverywhere we went in the north, the people were friendly and helpful. But, as I listened to the guide on the bus and read a local paper or two,I learned that the divisions between Catholics and Protestants are still very deep. To give one example, the Protestants still insist that Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers were nothing but terrorists, and there should be no memorial of any sort for them. In both Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, there are also "peace gardens" - memorials to the innocent victims of terror. It may take generations for the people to put the Troubles behind them.
I've got to say, though, we could have spent far longer in Belfast. Perhaps I'll go back some day - maybe with my sisters. In closing, here is a modern resident and an ancient one!
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-20 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 02:11 am (UTC)I did like that the statue wasn't actually of Lewis, but of a scene that wasn't really in any of the books. In a way, that makes it more of an invitation. You're expected to see yourself in the seeker, as well as seeing Lewis in him. And the quotes - which I didn't manage to photograph - were lovely, too.
Thanks for your response!
no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 09:18 pm (UTC)I did think I'd answered that in my very first sentences? My people come from the West, not from the North. I have, so far as I know, no connections at all there.
As to the second, there is peace now. It's just that there is not - yet - forgiveness or understanding. And I have no idea how long it might take to achieve. One thing - have you heard about Wolfe Tone? I think many things would have been different had he been victorious. The conflict in the North, at the bottom, really wasn't religious. It was a settler-colonial conflict. That the indigenous Irish were Catholic, and the settlers largely Protestant, made the conflict that much worse, though. You're right - it's always tragic when religion is made a cause for war.