NI 100: Carson and De Valera portraits to hang together in exhibition

Weapons, uniforms, political pamphlets and posters will be on display as well as the portraits

Portraits of former unionist leader Lord Carson and former Irish President Éamon de Valera are to hang side by side in a new exhibition at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

The pictures are among more than 200 artefacts brought together to mark the centenary of NI and the partition of the island of Ireland in 1921.

Portraits were painted by Belfast-born artist Sir John Lavery.

The original of Carson is on display, while De Valera is a copy.

Weapons, uniforms, political pamphlets and posters will also be on display as well as copy of the legislation which ultimately divided the island, the 1920 Government of Ireland Act.

Carson's ceremonial uniform is among those displayed

At the centre of exhibition are pictures of Carson and De Valera, two of the key political figures in the run-up to partition a century ago.

Carson was the leader of the Unionist Party as it battled against attempts by De Valera and other republican and nationalist leaders to gain Ireland independence from Britain.

In total there are 11 portraits, with Carson and De Valera facing into each other in the middle.

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"It just happened accidentally," said exhibition curator Niamh Baker.

"The portraits are all hung in date order, the order that the artist painted them in.

"These are the leaders that reflected and harnessed the two broad traditions in Ireland at the time," she added.

A dress belonging to Northern Ireland Parliament MP Dame Dehra Parker features in the exhibition, along with a small model of Carson's statue at Stormont

Other portraits include:

• Northern Ireland's first Prime Minister Sir James Craig

• Nationalist MP Joseph Devlin

• Sinn Féin's Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins

Items in the exhibition include a Garda Síochána (Irish police) uniform from 1922 and a silver cup engraved with the words 'not an inch' which was presented to Sir James Craig.

Exhibition curator Niamh Baker says Carson and De Valera "reflected and harnessed the two broad traditions in Ireland at the time"

The chief executive of National Museums NI, Kathryn Thomson, said the exhibition was not just aimed at people interested in politics.

"This is an exhibition about our history, about how we've ended up where we are today and what the legacy and impact of that has been," she said.

"But, also, we want our visitors to come here, to get involved and interact with the exhibition, to record what they think are the big issues facing us now and into the next 100 years."

Among the 205 artefacts are:

• A rifle with UVF stamped on it

• A revolver used in the Anglo-Irish War

• A Royal Irish Constabulary medal

King George V officially opened the Northern Ireland Parliament in June 1921

The exhibition also includes a dress which belonged to one of the first female MPs elected to the first Northern Ireland Parliament in 1921, Dame Dehra Parker.

Admission to the Ulster Museum is free but visitors must pre-book time slots online.

The exhibition is due to open on 25 May.