All for one and one for all in Derry

Protestants and Catholics have set aside their fractious past and are united for The 2013 City of Culture, 338 arts events that symbolise progress, says Alan O’Riordan

DERRY is an archetypal ‘big’ small city. On the edge of Europe, and with a population of 115,000, it has been the location of historical events. The Siege of Derry, Bloody Sunday and the Troubles, and links to Colmcille grant locals an assured sense of Derry’s importance.

Yet, despite this vocal second-city pride, the city’s disputed name reveals it as a place of conflict, home to two communities whose bloody rivalry has defined the city.