Skip to main content

‘Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition’ comes to Boston for the first time this fall

By Emily Wyrwa Globe Correspondent,Updated July 10, 2024, 10:27 a.m.
The Grand Staircase will be a prime photo-op for exhibition visitors.

Bostonians will get a chance to live out their Jack and Rose fantasies when “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” makes its way to Boston this fall.

While the 90-minute experience doesn’t feature Celine Dion serenading guests with “My Heart Will Go On,” it will include cabins from the famed, doomed ship that have been re-created to take visitors on a trip back to 1912. Fan will also get to see the ship’s iconic grand staircase, as well as nearly 250 artifacts from the Titanic wreck site, ranging from plates to passengers’ personal possessions.

Presented by The Gold Group, the exhibit will take over The Saunders Castle at Park Plaza Oct. 17 through May 29, 2025. Joe Gold, principal at The Gold Group, told the Globe in a phone interview on Tuesday that he believes the exhibit “will resonate very well” with Bostonians.

Advertisement

A young visitor studying his boarding pass.

When visitors arrive, they’ll receive a boarding pass with “a brief history of one of the passengers,” according to Gold. As they make their way through the exhibit, visitors will hear an announcement that there’s an “iceberg dead ahead.”

Guests will learn at the end of the experience whether or not the passenger listed on their boarding pass survived the disaster, like Lillian Asplund, a Worcester resident who was only 5 at the time of the sinking, or Marjorie Newell, a Lexington resident who was 23 during the ill-fated voyage. Both passengers were among the 11 Massachusetts residents who survived the April 15, 1912, incident.

Related: Ready your wands: ‘Harry Potter: The Exhibition’ makes its New England debut this fall

“They’ll feel that they actually were one of the passengers on the Titanic,” said Gold, noting how visitors will gain an understanding of the people who were onboard the ship, as well as the history behind the story that inspired the beloved 1997 film.

One of the cabins re-created for the exhibit.

The exhibition, which has been viewed by more than 35 million visitors over the years, has two permanent locations in Las Vegas and Orlando, and has toured New York, Columbus, Ohio, and the Washington, D.C., area.

“There’s constant interest in this subject matter,” Gold said. “It’s an incredible story of survival from those who did survive the disaster.”

Advertisement

TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION

At the Castle at Park Plaza, 130 Columbus Ave., Oct. 17 to May 29, 2025. titanicboston.us

Emily Wyrwa can be reached at emily.wyrwa@globe.com. Follow her @emilywyrwa.