Belfast City Hall

Belfast ( BEL-fast, -⁠fahst; from Irish: Béal Feirste [bʲeːlˠ ˈfʲɛɾˠ(ə)ʃtʲə], meaning "mouth of the sand-bank ford") is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open seas through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is the 10th-largest primary urban area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in the island of Ireland. In 2021, Belfast City had a population of 293,300, and a metro area population of 634,600.From its origins as an English settlement in the early 16th century, in the 18th Belfast developed as a largely Scottish Presbyterian textile centre and port. At odds with Dublin's Anglican establishment, the town's radical politics contributed to the Irish rebellion of 1798. By the time it was granted city status in 1888, Belfast was a global leader in linen production, and had a large engineering sector centered on Harland & Wolff, at the turn of the new century the world's largest shipyard. Rapid industrial expansion and inward migration was accompanied by a sectarian politics that pitted Protestants, committed to the post-rebellion union with Great Britain, and a growing, nationalist, Catholic minority. Tensions twice broke out in periods of intense violence that, in their time, were both referred to as "the Troubles": in 1920-22, as Belfast emerged as the capital of the six Irish counties remaining in the United Kingdom, and over three decades from the late 1960s during which the British Army was continually deployed on the streets. A legacy of conflict is the barrier-reinforced separation of the city's loyalist and republican districts. Since the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the electoral balance in the city of has shifted from unionists to nationalists. At the same time, immigrants have joined a growing share of residents unwilling to identify with either of the main traditions. Belfast today has a largely service economy, with important contributions from financial technology (fintech), tourism and film. It retains a port with commercial and industrial docks, including a reduced Harland & Wolff shipyard and aerospace and defence contractors. It is served by two airports: George Best Belfast City Airport in the Harbour Estate, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles (24 kilometres) west of the city.

Donegall Square is a square in the centre of Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. In the centre is Belfast City Hall, the headquarters of Belfast City Council. Each side of the square is named according to its geographical location, i.e. Donegall Square North, South, East and West. It is named after the Donegall family. Other streets to bear their name in Belfast are Donegall Road, Donegall Pass and Donegall Street. Donegall Place, the city's main shopping street, runs from the north side of the square. On the square are many banks or society branches, including HSBC, Nationwide, Irish Nationwide, Santander, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Co-operative Bank, First Trust Bank, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank. Many of the above have their Northern Ireland headquarters on the square. The Northern Bank robbery occurred at the bank's headquarters on Donegall Square West. In addition, it is the home to many leading Law Firms including; Millar McCall & Wylie, Sullivans, Rice & Company, McGriggors LLP, and Ferguson Solicitors. Notable buildings on the square include the Linen Hall Library and the Scottish Provident Building, now a five-star serviced office business centre. The Ten Square Hotel on Donegall Square South was originally a Victorian linen warehouse. Its exterior features carved portholes, with the faces of George Washington, Sir Isaac Newton, Michelangelo and William Shakespeare protruding.

The Clandeboye massacre in 1574 was a massacre of the O'Neills of Lower Clandeboye by the English forces of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex. It took place during an attempted English colonisation of Ulster as part of the Tudor conquest of Ireland. The Lord of Lower Clandeboye, Sir Brian McPhelim O'Neill, had violently opposed these attempts at colonisation. O'Neill would invite Lord Essex to parley at his castle in Belfast; however, at the end of the feast, the English forces turned on the O'Neills and killed up to 200 of them including women and children. Essex ordered that O'Neill, his wife and brother to be seized and executed for treason and for opposing the plantations.

Belfast was a constituency in the Irish House of Commons, the house of representatives of the Kingdom of Ireland, until 1800.

The Belfast metropolitan area, also known as Greater Belfast, is a grouping of council areas which include commuter towns and overspill from Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a population of 672,522 in 2011, combining the Belfast, Lisburn, Newtownabbey, North Down, Castlereagh and Carrickfergus districts. This equates to 37.1% of Northern Ireland's population.

Belfast City Centre is the central business district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The city centre was originally centred on the Donegall Street area. Donegall Street is now mainly a business area, but with expanding residential and entertainment development as part of the Cathedral Quarter scheme - St. Anne's, Belfast's Anglican cathedral is located here. The Roman Catholic cathedral St. Peter's is located a little to the west of the city centre. Two of Belfast's three main newspapers - The Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News are also located nearby. The News Letter, which claims to be the oldest continually published English language daily newspaper still in existence, was originally located in the area at 55 Donegall Street, site of a massive Provisional IRA carbomb in March 1972, in which seven people died and 148 were injured. The city centre is now centred on Donegall Square (location of the City Hall), Donegall Place, Royal Avenue, Castle Junction, High Street and surrounding streets and alleys.

The Avenue Bar shooting occurred on May 15, 1988, as the Ulster Volunteer Force launched a gun attack on the Avenue Bar on Union Street in the city center of Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing three Catholic civilians and wounding six others. The bar was close to the Unity Flats complex and as a result was frequented mostly by Catholics.

Limelight is a live music and night club venue complex in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which initially opened in 1987. The complex, located on the city's Ormeau Avenue, consists of Limelight 1 & Limelight 2, as well as a bar called Katy's Bar. The outdoor terrace is called The Rock Garden.Limelight has strong associations with new bands, homegrown talent, and indie/rock/metal club nights.

Ten Square is a four-star hotel in Donegall Square South, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is located a few metres away from the City Hall.

The Belfast Cenotaph is a war memorial in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in Donegall Square West, to the west of Belfast City Hall. Like the City Hall, it was designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas. The cenotaph was unveiled in 1929. It became a Grade A listed building in 1984.The memorial includes a central Portland stone monument about 30 feet (9.1 m), with bronze brackets on either side supporting flagpoles. The top of the monument has carved laurel wreaths, symbolising victory and honour. It bears several inscriptions: on the north side: "PRO DEO / ET / PATRIA // ERECTED BY / THE CITY / OF / BELFAST / IN MEMORY OF / HER / HEROIC SONS / WHO MADE / THE SUPREME / SACRIFICE / IN / THE GREAT WAR / 1914–1918 // THROUGHOUT THE LONG YEARS OF STRUGGLE WHICH / HAVE NOW SO GLORIOUSLY ENDED THE MEN OF ULSTER / HAVE PROVED HOW NOBLY THEY FIGHT AND DIE / GEORGE R.I." and on the south face: "THEY DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO A GREAT CAUSE AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS BY LAND, SEA AND AIR WON UNDYING FAME".The monument stands on three steps. To the south is an arc of paired Corinthian columns forming a 25 feet (7.6 m)–high colonnade. To the north is a sunken garden of remembrance, which since 2011 has been the location for an annual Field of Remembrance. The paving of the garden was renewed in 1993. The memorial was completed in 1927 and was officially unveiled by Viscount Allenby on 11 November 1929. No Catholic organisations participated in the formal unveiling ceremony, but veterans from the 16th (Irish) Division laid a wreath after the ceremony ended, and participated the following year.In addition to the usual Remembrance Sunday services, there are also annual ceremonies to remember the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July. Controversially, the first Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast Alex Maskey laid a wreath on 1 July 2002.Nearby are memorials to the service of Irish regiments in the Boer War and the Korean War, and to US forces who arrived in Northern Ireland in 1942.

The Belfast Wheel was a 60-metre (200 ft) tall transportable Ferris wheel installation in the centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the grounds on the east side of Belfast City Hall. It operated from November 2007 to April 2010.

Belfast Central was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.