Edinburgh Festival

Category

Library Item

Item no

11925

Title

Royal Mile, West Parliament Square during Edinburgh Festival

Description

Amongst the people walking on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh are Fringe Festival performers. One of the performers wears a poster to advertise a show, another performer holds a flag. In amongst the crowd there are scouts who wear neckerchiefs around their necks.

Artist / maker

Ansell, Andrew J L

Date

2007

Size

26.4 x 19.7 cm

Type

Digital image

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The 'Famous Spiegeltent' is a mobile entertainment venue constructed of wood and canvas with a lavish interior decorated with mirrors and stained glass. It is one of only a few surviving spiegeltents, and was built in Belgium in 1920. It has been used as a venue in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1996. The area surrounding the 'Famous Spiegeltent' in George Square Gardens is known as the Spiegel Garden.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has its roots in the attendance of eight uninvited theatre groups at the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. This unofficial adjunct to the festival grew in both size and organisation throughout the 1950's with more and more performers coming to take advantage of the audiences drawn to the capital by the official events. By the end of the decade a well organised Festival Fringe Society had been established with a constitution, brochure, and central ticket sales. Today 'The Fringe' hosts several hundred productions each year, and ticket sales have exceeded 1.6 million.

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Related subjects

Communication > Written > Flags

Events > Festivals > Fringe Festival

People > Entertainment and sports > Entertainers

People > Societies > Guides and scouts

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh areas > Royal Mile

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh