The Peace Bridge of Derry opened in 2011 to provide a pedestrian crossing between the largely unionist Waterside and the largely nationalist Cityside east and west of the River Foyle.

Derry’s year as the UK’s City of Culture will reach its theatrical apogee on September 20 with The Conquest of Happiness, a large-scale open-air show in the city’s Ebrington Square, directed by Haris Pasovic.

Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle and Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody will help kick off celebrations in the North's first City of Culture, it has been confirmed.

City of Culture status could do for Derry what the Olympics did for London, organisers have claimed.