Southampton is well known for its links to the Titanic so of course the city has a museum dedicated to it – but not only to the Titanic, but the Maritime history of the area as well. Now I’ll be honest, I’ve known about the Sea City Museum for ages but I just hadn’t had the time or the inclination to visit. But seeing as how I have this time off and need to keep myself busy, I thought I would pop down there this morning.
When I arrived, it was only about five minutes until opening time. However I found myself utterly shocked at just how many people were waiting outside. I suppose it’s to be expected given as Southampton is practically the home of the Titanic. Getting inside was a bit of a farce even after the doors were open, due to technical issues with the tills. However after a bit I was inside and home free.
£8.50 and a wrist band later, I was inside and wandering the Titanic exhibition.
The Titanic disaster certainly hit Southampton hard. Many workers from Southampton were on board when it sank and many of them never came home again. Every day on the way home from work I walk past a plaque stating that the building was an office of the ocean liner company, an office that was bombarded with family members when news of the disaster hit.
Following the Titanic museum you are taken into a couple of rooms for an exhibition called “The Gateway to the World” – this exhibition concentrates on the maritime history of Southampton and the surrounding area, from prehistory to present day.
I have to be 110% honest here, I found the entirety of the Sea City museum completely underwhelming. I had finished my visit within just over 30 minutes and that included reading the information and taking photographs. £8.50 is far too steep a price for this museum and, I would say, unless you have an interest in the Titanic then avoid this place like the plague. The price really isn’t worth it.
Following my completely underwhelming visit to the Sea City museum, I took myself around the corner to the art gallery. This was much more to my taste and although I was only there for a maximum of about fifteen minutes, it was truly a wonderful visit. Below are a selection of my favourite pieces of art from the gallery.
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Wonderful pics in that little gallery. It must be very hard for Southampton to compete with the Titanic exhibit in Belfast. It’s a magical and massive place that I blogged about before. I think in NI we tended not to think about the amount of people and workers affected by the tragedy in ports like Southampton. So very interesting to see this.