Cobh Heritage Centre, Co. Cork, Ireland | Travel ♥

View of Cobh Heritage Centre, from the front entrance. 

Display detailing events of the Titanic and of the various people who left Queenstown (Cobh) on ships to America. 

Luggage and cart, used to transport luggage to ships from the port. 

Vintage poster looking for Irish men to work on the railroad in Oregon. Just £10 to get to America - wish it was the same case today!

Statues of people waiting to emigrate to America. 

A boat covered in vintage, embroidered bonnets for the blessing of the bonnets ceremony for Australia Day.

 

The entrance to the main exhibition, how amazing to think that 3 million people walked through this place to emigrate to the land of opportunity and to begin their new lives. Sadly, a lot of these journeys ended in tragedy, notably the Titanic, Queenstown (Cobh) being its last port of call before it sunk. I did take more pictures of the exhibition but it was far too dark in there for good picture quality. I will say that the exhibition hasn't changed a bit since I visited last way back when I was in primary school - I guess there really is no need to change something when it's so popular and has to do with history.

Vintage shipping posters. I actually have some of these as postcards and have sent a lot of these via Postcrossing.

Some of the Titanic memorabilia that the Heritage Centre houses. The Titanic is probably the biggest attraction for people who visit Cobh. Liners dock at Cobh throughout the summer months and the Heritage Centre is always thronged with tourists wanting to see the Titanic exhibitions and see where their ancestors departed from Ireland from many decades ago.

More from the Titanic exhibition. This was actually pretty cool as it looked like entering the Titanic, my son had great fun going over those ramps!

More from the Titanic exhibition, a view of the Titanic being built in Belfast.

The cafe area in the Heritage Centre. This is one of my favourite places to meet friends for lunch in the town. I actually think it'd be a great place to do some blogging work -  I need to try that someday. This place has visitors from all around the world and as you can see the biggest visitors are celebrated with flags - Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. There are other countries flags at the end of the building too, Argentina being one that really stood out to me. Funny to think that people from the other end of the world have visited this little attraction in my hometown, amazing really.

I really do love the look of the Heritage Centre, it just transports you back to the old days with it's charming red brick walls, vintage style lighting, glass roof and old-fashioned signage. The clock before the entrance is one of best features of the whole building for me.

I'm pretty sure that the Heritage Centre acts as a place of nostalgia for a lot of visitors year in, year out. People specifically go on cruises that dock in Cobh just to visit this place, learn about the history and see where so many people emigrated from Ireland.

Cobh Heritage Centre is open all year round, only closing for two weeks at Christmas. Prices to view the attractions are €9.50 for adults, €7.50 for students/OAPs and €5.00 for children (which I think should probably be free to be honest).

Hopefully my pictures have given you a sense of history and culture within the building. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone if you ever happen to find yourself within the Cobh area. The atmosphere of the Heritage Centre is just the best.