Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and the province of Ulster, and the second-largest city on the Island of Ireland (after Dublin). Much of the city centre is now pleasantly pedestrianized, with benches where you can sit and listen to the street musicians. There are many exuberant Victorian and Edwardian buildings with elaborate sculptures over doors and windows. Stone-carved heads of gods and poets, scientists, kings and queens peer down from the high ledges of banks and old linen warehouses.