The Murals

What are murals?  Murals are paintings, which are drawn on  walls in streets. They are mostly located in Northern Ireland and especially in Belfast. They have become very famous and loads of tourists come to this country in order to see them. These paintings have even become a symbol of Northern Ireland. More than  2000 murals have been drawn since the 1970’s there. Many paintings promote either Irish Republicans' or Ulster Loyalists' political believes. The Republicans wanted the island to be independent contrary to the Loyalists who defended the union with  Great Britain and were opposed to a united Ireland. This opposition in the 1970 is called "The Troubles" and was responsible for the death of 3500 people; moreover 50 000 were injured. Some of them also commemorated people who lost their lives in military attacks, events or people involved in the history of Ireland during The Troubles. However, you can also find murals that totally avoid the subject of Ireland : Some are about football or movies like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for example.

Here, you can see a mural of George Best, who was a Northern Irish professional footballer. He is considered as one of the greatest attackers of the history. 

On the left, it’s a mural from the Republican who fought for the independence of Ireland.

 

How many murals can you find in Ireland?

How was called the opposition between the loyalists and republicans?

What were the republicans fighting for?

Paul Berthier et Benoît Barthélemy