BURJUMAN CENTRE BRINGS TITANIC EXHIBITION TO MIDDLE EAST FOR THE FIRST TIME

21 October 2002
Titanic Artefacts To Be Displayed In Purpose Built Display Of The World's Most Famous Ship - 90 Years After Tragedy Struck

DUBAI: The BurJuman Centre has brought the first major Titanic exhibition to the Middle East for the first time. The exhibition, which includes artefacts from the ship, is a major part of the annual BurJuman Art & Music Festival, which this year runs from October 22-31. It is the first time that the story of the tragic events that led to the sinking of the giant luxury transatlantic liner to the Middle East for the first time.

Designed in the shape of a ship painted in the Titanic’s colours the exhibition opens on 22 October and will occupy a central area in the mall until the end of Ramadan and continue to be open to the public after the Art & Music Festival has ended.

The exhibition about the fateful voyage of the giant steamship has been specially created and flown in from the United Kingdom exclusively for BurJuman. It is also believed to be the first time in the world that a Titanic exhibition has been held in a shopping mall outside North America.

Entry is free to the exhibition that will be in place for an initial period of just over six weeks. It takes visitors on a journey through the history and drama of the ship’s ill-fated inaugural transatlantic crossing from Southampton in England to New York.

The exhibition features some artefacts salvaged from the scene of the tragedy or belonged to some of the 703 people who survived; a number of items made for specially for the Titanic but never used and exclusive new film footage from a recent dive to the wreck that lies 2.5 miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Other displays show the luxury lifestyle enjoyed by Titanic guests; human interest stories of Titanic passengers and crew and a computer generated film that shows the devastating effects of the iceberg and how the Titanic broke up and sank.

It also features a replica of the Marconi radio room that sent out the desperate SOS message for help after the Titanic struck the iceberg and began to sink. This message reached a nearby ship allowing the rescue of the 703 survivors. But a total of 1503 passengers and crew of the Titanic were to die in the tragedy.

BurJuman General Manager, Mr Eisa Adam Ibrahim, said: “The BurJuman Centre is very proud to have secured this special exhibition of Titanic artefacts that will be the first of its kind ever to be held in the Middle East.

“The Titanic is without doubt the most legendary ship that ever sailed and this exhibition will bring a fascinating insight into the history and drama of the tragedy that still interests people today.

“The exhibition, custom-built for BurJuman, tells both the story of the ship and human interest tales of passengers and crew by using exclusive underwater footage of the wreck, computer generated images of the accident and key artefacts salvaged from the disaster and will be of tremendous interest to our shoppers now and throughout Ramadan.”

Sir Rodney Walker, Chairman of Titanic Exhibitions Ltd, said: “We are very proud to have been invited by the BurJuman Centre to bring this collection of Titanic artefacts to Dubai and the Middle East for the very first time. The exhibition is designed to tell the story of the ship and the passengers and crew who sailed on that fateful voyage 90 years ago.

“Interest in the Titanic is universal and we are looking forward to a very positive response from Dubai’s cosmopolitan population. We are also very excited to be arranging an exhibition about Titanic in a shopping mall for the very first time.

“With BurJuman we have decided to make access to the exhibition free to enable everyone to have the opportunity to find out more about this magnificent ship and the tragedy that struck it.”

A comprehensive range of Titanic merchandising including gifts for children, clothing and replicas of the crockery and crystal glasses used by the first class passengers on the ship will be available at the exhibition.

The site of the Titanic wreck has now been declared an international grave that forbids the collection of any artefacts or items from the ship in the future. Diving trips to the wreck are now purely for historical discovery reasons and tourism.

Three of the people associated with the exhibition have dived to the wreck of the Titanic. Denis Cochrane was historical adviser to the 2000 Expedition to Titanic and is a recognised international authority on the ship. Gary Allsopp of Subsea Explorer Ltd shot the exclusive footage that is part of the exhibition and leads tourist expeditions to the wreck site. Finally Dik Barton knows the wreck as well as any man alive and has now dived over 20 times to the shipwreck on the bottom of the Atlantic.

Both Dik Barton and Gary Allsopp visited Dubai for the official opening of the exhibition on 22 October 2002. The exhibition is open all day, 7-days a week until the end of Ramadan.

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:
Kevin Hasler/Anosh Ahamath
Bates PanGulf PR
Tel: 00 9714 2224161
Fax: 00 9714 2247839
Email: publicrelations@batespangulf.com
TITANIC FACTS

The ship was the largest man made moving object when it sailed from Southampton to New York on 10 April 1912.

Harland and Wolff in Northern Ireland built the Titanic for the White Star Line.

Titanic was to be one of the three largest steamers in the world built by the company – the others would be The Olympic and The Gigantic. The Gigantic was never built in the wake of the Titanic disaster.

The ship was 882 feet, nine inches long, 92 feet, 6 inches wide and from the keel to the bridge was 106 feet high and weighed 46,328 tonnes.

Titanic had the power of 30,000 horsepower in her two reciprocating engines and 16,000 horsepower in her central turbine engine

The wreck of the Titanic was first discovered in 1985. Since then there have been a number of discovering dives to the wreck – with some even taking tourists.