Spire of Hope
A 40-metre steel needle installed in 2007 that drops through glass above the choir stalls and lights up at night as the quarter's beacon.
A 40-metre stainless-steel needle rising out of the roof of a century-old church is the first thing you notice about St Anne's, before it registers that this is the building that gave Belfast's Cathedral Quarter its name. The 'Spire of Hope' went up in 2007 and its lower tip drops through a glass panel directly above the choir stalls, so that from inside it reads as a thread of light hanging in mid-air. At night it is lit and becomes the landmark you steer by across the whole district. The cathedral itself was begun in 1899 in a heavy, round-arched Romanesque style and finished in stages until the last transept was completed in 1981; it is one of very few cathedrals anywhere that serves two dioceses at once. The interior is quieter and plainer than the Gothic cathedrals you may know from England, but it rewards slowing down: a baptistery whose ceiling is a mosaic of some 150,000 tiny glass pieces, mosaics in the side Chapel of the Holy Spirit telling the story of St Patrick, and carved west-front portals built as a memorial to the dead of the First World War. In the south aisle lies Edward Carson, the Unionist leader who fought Irish independence and the only person buried inside the building; nearby hangs the Titanic pall, an embroidered funeral cloth dedicated in 2012 to the victims of the ship built a couple of kilometres away. Sightseeing is ticketed: £5 for an adult self-guided, £8 with a volunteer guide or audio guide, and children up to 16 go free, which makes it a reasonable half-hour for a family between the quarter's cafés and murals. The floor is level and the entrance takes pushchairs. Visitor hours are Monday to Saturday 10:30 to 16:00 (last entry 15:15) and Sunday 12:30 to 15:30 only, and the nave shuts entirely to tourists during services, concerts and civic ceremonies, so check the events calendar before you detour. To be plain: this is not a place you cross a city for, but it is a smart stop on the walk between the leaning Albert Clock (five minutes) and the restaurants of the Cathedral Quarter, ten minutes from City Hall and Lanyon Place station. Short on time, the facade and the steel spire from the pavement are enough for a photo and an impression; with forty minutes in hand, the mosaics justify the ticket.
A 40-metre steel needle installed in 2007 that drops through glass above the choir stalls and lights up at night as the quarter's beacon.
A ceiling of some 150,000 coloured glass pieces depicting Creation, earth, fire and water, the finest thing inside and worth a few minutes with your head tilted back.
The only man buried in the cathedral, since 1935, and an embroidered memorial cloth for the victims of the ship built in this same city.
Donegall Street, Cathedral Quarter, Belfast BT1 2HB
If you are passing through the Cathedral Quarter with no time to spare, the facade and the steel spire from the pavement are genuinely enough; the interior is plainer than England's great cathedrals. If mosaics and local history appeal, the ticket is fair value, especially since children enter free and the visit rarely runs past forty minutes.
Reasonably so: under-16s go free, the floor is level for pushchairs and the visit is short. There is an InSpire Kids Trail, but it must be pre-booked, and without a guide younger children may fade after fifteen minutes, so treat it as a stop rather than a destination.