A group of Catholic teenagers from west Belfast have travelled across the city on a "ground-breaking" trip into the heart of the Orange Order.
They were among a 36-strong group of young people between the ages of 14 and 18 to visit Schomberg House, the east Belfast headquarters of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland last month.
The trip was organised by the Springfield Inter-community Development Project (SICDP) and included participants from the Protestant Shankill and Highfield areas as well as the Catholic Ballymurphy area of west Belfast.
There were also young people from Drogheda and Donegal on the visit.
The group was welcomed to Schomberg House by the Grand Secretary of the Order, Denis Watson, before a tour of the headquarters.
Gordan Luch, an Orange historian and member of the order's education committee, delivered a brief talk on the history and culture of Orangism.
After the talk he took questions from the group.
Rita Geraghty of SICDP said the trip was a "one-off, ground-breaking exercise".
"It was interesting for both the Orange Order and the kids. For example one of the things on display was a piece of Irish art and one of the kids said 'Why do you have that? I thought you were anti-Irish.'
"He was able to explain that it was the Grand Lodge of Ireland and had been in existence before partition," she said.
"The Order learned there was a lack of understanding of what it stands for."
Margaret Doherty of the South West Donegal Partnership said she was delighted the teenagers had been able to have their questions answered.
"The significance and experience of visiting the Orange Lodge will be something they will only know through time and reflection," she said.
A spokesman for the Orange Order said the organisation was pleased with the success of the event.
"We have got very good feedback. They had a talk from one of our historians and saw a number of artefacts, including Lord Carson's walking stick and a gauntlet worn by Good King Billy at the Battle of the Boyne," he said.
"There was a question and answer session.
"Some of the group had aperception of the institution which was incorrect and we attempted to put that right."
