A lot has been told by stories, articles, books and movies about the RMS Titanic down through the decades since she sank.

In Northern Ireland, the city of Belfast is very proud to be her birthplace and created a huge Titanic Museum/Experience in the very location where she was designed, built and launched.

On my last trip to Belfast, I decided to include a visit to the Titanic Museum.

In the beginning, I was a bit sceptical, I kept thinking romance could be the central thread, but I was contradicted and pleased to experience first-hand what she was like, free from romance and deeply rooted in reality.

The Museum is a star-shaped building and boasts an iconic design which includes many maritime metaphors such as water crystals, ships bows and the White Star logo.

It is huge, imponent and as high as the Titanic herself.

I could not refrain from looking up to the top of the building and thinking of how her passengers felt boarding her: the most luxurious and largest ship afloat at that time.

What were they thinking? How much were they impressed? In my mind, I pictured the simple people from the Irish rural villages, from Mayo, Cork, Westmeath and Limerick.

I believe they were frozen with surprise and enchanted by all this opulence.

The Museum and the slipway around it tell the story of the Titanic, of the workers who built her and the conditions they were working in.

The sights, sounds, smells and stories of the ship came to life, as well as the people and city that made her.

I was able to perceive the red colour of glowing iron, darkness and thick air inside the virtual steel hull.

My mind was struck by the delicate white and blue china; I was impressed by the recreation of the first-class luxury cabins, second and third-class basic cabins and by the very few artefacts on display.

Above all, I was deeply moved by Father Browne’s photo collection.

He boarded the ship at Southampton and disembarked at Cobh, via Cherbough and took dozen of photographs of the Titanic, its passengers and crew shortly before its sinking.

He captured the last images of people enjoying their walks on the Promenade and Boat decks and their one-time life adventure on the maiden voyage of this “unsinkable” liner.

People laughing and experiencing life on an ocean liner…People dreaming of a new life… Children playing…

He also shot the Marconi room, the only photo in existence of it. To me, it is the most tragic photo in the whole collection.

I could vividly imagine the anxiety and fear the operators felt in those terrifying hours, and hear the many calls for help and the urgent tragic messages stating what was happening.

My visit ended with the gallery Titanic Beneath; I walked on a glass floor, and beneath my feet, I could see her as she appears today: a wreak at the bottom of the ocean.

I left with a sensation of cold, darkness and silence in my mind.

After all, she ended in a deep cold silence coming from a sensational beginning.