Falls Road is a road that runs through the west of Belfast in Northern Ireland. Running from Divis Street to the suburb of Andersonstown, this circuit has become a highly touristic and cultural route since 1990, thanks to its history marked by the Northern Irish conflict. You’ll come across numerous murals commemorating major episodes in the Troubles. An ideal place to immerse yourself in Belfast’s turbulent past!

Visit Falls Road

A succession of painted walls, bearing witness to Belfast’s history

Falls Road can be visited on foot or by car. Above all, the tour will take you past a succession of murals, some old, some new, which will give you a better understanding of Northern Ireland’s history of conflict. In the manner of a comic strip, each wall represents an episode, a figure from the struggle, the inter-connections of the Northern Irish struggle with the international… etc.

The drawings sometimes evoke violence, or the desire for peace. All of this is done with often vivid colors and realistic representations.

On the facade of the Sinn Féin office, you’ll come across a mural of Bobby Sands, the famous IRA member and hunger striker of the 1980s. This symbol of the conflict went on a merciless hunger strike to have his status as a political prisoner recognized by Margaret Thatcher. He died as a result of his fasting, without Britain’s voice being heard…

You’ll also come across a reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica painting, a caricature of President George W. Bush, allusions to ETA and racial segregation, and frescoes depicting the conflict in Northern Ireland. Some of the texts are in Irish Gaelic, alluding to Bloody Sunday and the arrests of many IRA members without trial.

The tour is quite interesting, and is one of the must-see sites for a better understanding of the complex history of Belfast, and of Northern Ireland.