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The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give the British a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts. The Festival's centrepiece was in London on the South Bank of the Thames. There were events in Poplar (Architecture), Battersea (The Festival Pleasure Gardens), South Kensington (Science) and Glasgow (Industrial Power). Festival celebrations took place in Cardiff, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Perth, Bournemouth, York, Aldeburgh, Inverness, Cheltenham, Oxford, Norwich, Canterbury and elsewhere〔''The Festival of Britain'' (Official Book of the Festival of Britain 1951). HMSO, 1951.〕 and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea. The Festival became associated with the post-war Labour government of Clement Attlee and the South Bank Exhibition site (with the exception of the Royal Festival Hall) was rapidly demolished by the incoming Conservative administration of Sir Winston Churchill. ==Conception and organisation== The first idea for an exhibition in 1951 came from the Royal Society of Arts in 1943, which considered that an international exhibition should be held to commemorate the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title="Circa 1951: Presenting Science to the British Public", Robert Anderson, Oregon State University )〕 In 1945, the government appointed a committee under Lord Ramsden to consider how exhibitions and fairs could promote exports.〔 When the committee reported a year later, it was decided not to continue with the idea of an international exhibition because of its cost at a time when reconstruction was a high priority.〔 The government decided instead to hold a series of displays about the arts, architecture, science, technology and industrial design,〔Cox, Ian, ''The South Bank Exhibition: A guide to the story it tells'', H.M.S.O., 1951〕 under the title "Festival of Britain 1951".〔 At that time, shortly after the end of World War II, much of London was still in ruins and redevelopment was badly needed. The Festival was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress and to promote better-quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=V&A, ''Designing Britain'' )〕 The Festival of Britain described itself as "one united act of national reassessment, and one corporate reaffirmation of faith in the nation's future."〔 Gerald Barry, the Festival Director, described it as "a tonic to the nation".〔 A Festival Council to advise the government was set up under General Lord Ismay.〔 Responsibility for organisation devolved upon the Lord President of the Council, Herbert Morrison, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, who appointed a Great Exhibition Centenary Committee, consisting of civil servants, who were to define the framework of the Festival and to liaise between government departments and the festival organisation. In March 1948, a Festival Headquarters was set up, which was to be the nucleus of the Festival of Britain Office, a government department with its own budget.〔 Festival projects in Northern Ireland were undertaken by the government of Northern Ireland. Associated with the Festival of Britain Office were the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Council of Industrial Design, the British Film Institute and the National Book League.〔 In addition, a Council for Architecture and a Council for Science and Technology were specially created to advise the Festival Organisation and a Committee of Christian Churches was set up to advise on religion.〔 Government grants were made to the Arts Council, the Council of Industrial Design, the British Film Institute and the National Museum of Wales for work undertaken as part of the Festival.〔 The arts were displayed in a series of country-wide musical and dramatic performances.〔 Achievements in architecture were to presented in a new neighbourhood, the Lansbury Estate, planned, built and occupied in the Poplar district of London. The Festival's centrepiece〔 was the South Bank Exhibition, in the Waterloo area of London, which demonstrated the contribution made by British advances in science, technology and industrial design, displayed, in their practical and applied form, against a background representing the living, working world of the day.〔 There were other displays elsewhere, each intended to be complete in itself, yet each part of the one single conception.〔 Festival Pleasure Gardens were set up in Battersea, about three miles up river from the South Bank. Heavy engineering was the subject of an Exhibition of Industrial Power in Glasgow. Certain aspects of science, which did not fall within the terms of reference of the South Bank Exhibition, were displayed in South Kensington. Linen technology and science in agriculture were exhibited in "Farm and Factory" in Belfast. A smaller exhibition of the South Bank story was put on in the Festival ship ''Campania'',〔 which toured the coast of Britain throughout the summer of 1951, and on land there was a travelling exhibition of industrial design.〔 The University of Brighton Design Archives have digitised many of the (Design Council's files ) relating to the planning of the festival. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Festival of Britain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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