Edinburgh is the world's leading festival city, with 12 major annual festivals bringing talents from more than a third of the world's countries to our streets and stages.
Dating back to 1947, the Edinburgh International Festival was established after World War II to create "a flowering of the human spirit" in the Scottish capital. In that same year the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Edinburgh International Film Festival also started. Other festivals followed, from military grandeur to intimate jazz and blues, captivating science to underground theatre and children's entertainment. As these festivals grew into world leading celebrations, international excellence in art, culture and science became a permanent and inescapable part of Edinburgh's identity.