Dueling Titanic shows will open within weeks of each other in Denver

It took roughly two hours and 40 minutes for the RMS Titanic to sink after smashing into an iceberg on April 14, 1912, in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.In that same amount of time, you can dive deep into its history through an array of artifacts, replicas and digital wizardry — provided you’ve got the money and stamina.A pair of wildly different Titanic exhibits will open in Denver over the next month to revisit the tragedy that has held global audiences in thrall for more than a century.

Denver’s Molly Brown House Museum, the former home of “unsinkable” Titanic survivor and philanthropist Margaret “Molly” Brown, will launch “See Justice Done: The Legacy of the Titanic Survivors’ Committee,” on April 10. With new artifacts, signage and tour information, it explores Brown’s unique and tireless activism in supporting survivors of the disaster that killed an estimated 1,500 people.“Titanic: An Immersive Voyage” features a simulated lifeboat from which visitors can watch a projection of the RMS Titanic sinking.



(Trey Walker, provided by Pitch Publicity NYC)On the other hand, “Titanic: An Immersive Voyage” opens at Lighthouse ArtSpace Denver on May 7, featuring massive digital projections, hundreds of replicas and artifacts, and a virtual-reality experience that simulates diving 12,000 feet to see the wreck.Its multimillion-dollar conception and production is a far cry from the cozy, salon-style displays at Capitol Hill’s Molly Brown House, where creaking wood and weathered textiles provide a strong sense of time and place.The creators of both say they can coexist, since formats and tones are distinct, despite running simultaneously.

But if you can only see one, the differences are important. There’s a stark contrast between commercial and nonprofit companies who present the same information under the auspices of education and entertainment.Big shows like Immersive Voyage have the budget for state-of-the-art spectacle, while perpetually resource-strapped nonprofit museums double down on intimate experiences, even as both tend to tell the same types of stories.

But there’s no reason you can’t see both, given their complementary artifacts.“She had this in her hand while the ship was sinking, and in her pocket when she was actually helping people into Lifeboat No. 6,” said Andrea Malcomb, museum director, as she showed off an ushabti — or an Egyptian talisman shaped like a mummy — that the Molly Brown House Museum acquired for “See Justice Done.

” (The gift shop sells a replica for $10.)“We conserve and preserve historic objects because people care about having that tangible thing,” said textile conservator Paulette Reading, who was busy mounting a commemorative flag that Brown received for her work in supporting survivors — including immigrants who had no agency or voice after of the tragedy — at Molly Brown House Museum.LEFT — Cathy Abram, left, and Paulette Reading work on restoring and framing a Titanic-related flag that will be on display soon at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver, on April 1, 2025.

RIGHT — The Molly Brown House Museum holds a small Egyptian figurine called an Ushabti, which Molly Brown had in her pocket during the sinking of the Titanic, that will be on display soon at the museum. (Photos by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)“See Justice Done” is included with general museum admission, or $11-$17, and is open to all ages. The museum is a tourist magnet and educational hub that welcomes about 10,000 students per year, she said, so the built-in audience is there.

But it still requires promotion.The Molly Brown House only learned about the touring Titanic immersive exhibit — which is produced by the Exhibition Hub and Fever companies (see also Bubble Planet and Lego’s Art of the Brick) — on Thursday. They said they don’t see it as competition.

But they also moved the media blitz for their homegrown exhibition up by several days in response, so as not to get lost in a publicity cycle that begins when tickets for the separate immersive show go on sale this week (Thursday, April 3).A publicist for the immersive exhibit on Wednesday said they had reached out to the museum staff to see if they wanted to be featured in a dedicated display at the Lighthouse space.Tickets for that show run $25.

90-$40.90, with kids under 4 getting in for free. Their high-tech exhibition has precedent in Denver’s other touring immersive events, which often focus on painters such as Monet and Dali.

And it arrives with lessons learned from exhibitions such as the world-touring Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.Exhibition Hub’s 90 or so shows, which have been seen by 10 million people worldwide, balance razzle-dazzle and high-tech video projections alongside interactive replicas, photo opps, and historical text.Visitors can walk down a Titanic hallway, snap pictures next to a gilded statue, and sit in a simulated lifeboat while watching the ship sink.

A press release for the immersive show even name-checks Molly Brown House Museum, “which stands as a testament to her enduring impact on the community,” given how Brown fought for the rights of women, miners, immigrants and others. It’s “one prominent Denver connection that you can rediscover,” it continues, thanks to the immersive show.“The story of the Titanic is universal,” said John Zaller, executive director of Exhibition Hub.

“I think all these exhibits and attractions are additive overall and complement one another. At Molly Brown House you’re going to have a very focused story, whereas with ours we have numerous focused storylines, but also the bigger story of the ship and passengers and especially those final moments after the Titanic struck the iceberg.”The story may be universal, but Denverites in particular couldn’t get enough of it shortly after it happened.

In 1912, promoters held re-creations of the sinking all summer-long at the metro area’s Manhattan Beach Amusement Park and Park of the Red Rocks, according to Historic Denver. There’s no shortage of drama in disaster.Of course, revisiting the disaster is more of an interpretive art these days, given that there are no survivors left (the last one, Millvina Dean, died at age 97 in 2009).

But there’s a science to it as well, since Titanic and related artifacts require special care more than 100 years after they were created.The Molly Brown House Museum will soon display a letter written by Molly Brown during her stay at the Brown Palace Hotel. The letter is now part of the museum’s Titanic collection in Denver, on April 1, 2025.

(Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)Staff at the Molly Brown House Museum were positively giddy when they secured a well-preserved letter that Brown wrote to her daughter dated May 8, 1912, on Brown Palace letterhead. In it, she half-jokes about being the center of attention, despite not seeking it for herself — a rebuke of sorts to the shows and institutions that have for decades rightly vaunted her for helping survivors.“They are petitioning Congress to give me a medal .

..” she wrote in long, cursive strokes to daughter Catherine Ellen Brown.

“If I must call a specialist to examine my head it is due to the title of Heroine of the Titanic.”.