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Description
Keywords: GoTonySmith,HotpixUK,@HotpixUK,NI,Northern Ireland,UK,centre,Shankill,Belfast mural,Long Kesh,prison,HMP Maze,reference,paramilitary,wall art,conflict,memorial,Crumb,Crumblin,compound,21-180289,21,18/02/1989,Loyalists,history,heritage,insignia,Loyalist,symbolism,urban,mural art,community,identity,post-conflict landscape,flags,Union Jack,Ulster Banner,BT13 2BN,BT13
Description: Tony Smith image Alamy 2RFJ33F - This image shows a large loyalist mural located in the Lower Shankill area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The mural includes references to Steve McCrea, Long Kesh prison (also known as the Maze Prison), and Compound 21, alongside symbols associated with the Red Hand Commando. It forms part of the long tradition of political and paramilitary wall murals found in working-class areas of Belfast.
The artwork incorporates portraits, prison imagery, insignia, and text referencing imprisonment during the period of conflict known as the Troubles. Unionist and loyalist flags are displayed above the building, reinforcing the political identity of the area. Adjacent text panels provide contextual or commemorative information, typical of memorial-style murals created after the peace process.
Such murals are a visible and contested element of Northern Ireland's post-conflict landscape. They function variously as memorials, political statements, community markers, and tourist points of interest, while also reflecting unresolved historical divisions and competing narratives of the conflict.
The photograph was taken in daylight under partly cloudy skies, with passers-by visible nearby, highlighting how these murals remain part of everyday urban life in Belfast decades after the end of large-scale violence.
Description
Keywords: GoTonySmith,HotpixUK,@HotpixUK,UK,centre,history,historic,heritage,Belfast,shipyard,ships,builders,builder,Harland,&,and,Wolff,wall,ship,shipbuilding,Titanic,shipbuilder,shipbuilders,ship yard,Queens Island,BT3 9EU,BT3,yards,industry heavy,traditional,work,workplace,employer,Royalist,community,Shankill
Description: Tony Smith image Alamy 2RFJ35J -
Description
Keywords: GoTonySmith,HotpixUK,@HotpixUK,UK,centre,history,historic,heritage,Belfast,shipyard,ships,builders,builder,Harland,&,and,Wolff,yard,Nos 2 & 3,ship,shipbuilding,Titanic,shipbuilder,shipbuilders,ship yard,Queens Island,BT3 9EU,BT3,yards,industry heavy,traditional,work,workplace,employer,Royalist,community,Shankill
Description: Tony Smith image Alamy 2RFJ35K -
Description
Keywords: off,memorial,UFF,Unionist,mural,Shankill,rd,Northern Ireland,GoTonySmith,HotpixUK,@HotpixUK,pink,BT13,224,Belfast,County Antrim,BT13 2BJ,historic,shopfront,shop,front,outside,remembering,the,past,with,pride,band,closed,shutter,shuttered,memory,memories,society,societies,community,terraced,terrace
Description: Tony Smith image Alamy HDWT4D -
Description
Keywords: Belfast,Unionist,Ireland,GoTonySmith,organisation,organizations,HotpixUK,Good Friday,agreement,Stormont,violence,community,Shankill,the,road,Loyalist,DUP,assembly,Brexit,west,Ulster,gable,end,to,The Troubles,threat,level,EU,UK,groups,terrorism,raised,Eire,power,sharing,attacks,kill,MLA,MLAs,severe threat level
Description: Tony Smith image Alamy HEEG4B - Murals in Northern Ireland have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region's past and present political and religious divisions.
Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals in Europe. It is believed that almost 2,000 murals have been documented since the 1970s. In 2014, the book, The Belfast Mural Guide estimated that, in Belfast, there were approximately 300 quality murals on display, with many more in varying degrees of age and decay. Murals commemorate, communicate and display aspects of culture and history. The themes of murals often reflect what is important to a particular community. A mural therefore exists to express an idea or message and could generally be seen as reflecting values held dear to that community.
In Irish republican areas the themes of murals can range from the 1981 Irish hunger strike, with particular emphasis on strike leader Bobby Sands
murals of international solidarity with revolutionary groups are equally common, as are those which highlight a particular issue, for example the Ballymurphy Massacre or the McGurk's Bar bombing. In working class unionist communities, murals are used to promote Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force and commemorate their deceased members. However traditional themes such as William III of England and the Battle of the Boyne, the Battle of the Somme and the 36th Ulster Division are equally common
