Stormont Estate

I’ve mentioned East Belfast in a couple of previous posts (educational vandalism and gourmet burgers).

Stormont estate – the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly and lots of busy civil servants – is in East Belfast. Probably better known to some as the venue for George Best’s funeral service. During her time as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam arranged for a children’s play park to be built on the expansive grounds, along with a fairly extensive set of walks through the woodlands. So other than the fenced off civil service buildings, Stormont is now very much open to the public.

If the local political process doesn’t reignite, we may end up with Stormont being more famous for the play park than its political role!

Walking through the estate this afternoon, I took some snaps in-between the dark clouds and rain showers.

Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings (known as “Stormont”). You can see the status of Carson in the foreground. Interesting that they chose to place both Give Way and Ulster Way (it's a walk) signs there too!

One of the paths runs past a sculpture in the middle of set of three pools. The plaque reads:

RECONCILIATION by Josefina De Vasconcellos. Presented by Coventry Cathedral and Sir Richard Branson. Identical sculptures have been placed on behalf of the people of Coventry in Hiroshima and Berlin. These sculptures remind us that human dignity and love will triumph over disaster and bring us together in respect and peace.