The Festival of Britain

Twelve artists were invited to design a symbol or a logo for the Festival of Britain. The National Archives has the original artwork for eight of the competition entries. The winning design was by graphic artist Abram Games, who had designed posters for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War.

Games described his approach as 'maximum meaning, minimum means'. His Festival of Britain symbol, known as the 'Festival Star', was used on souvenirs and official publications. The design uses red, white and blue colours with the head of Britannia on the north point of a compass. Games added a row of bunting to the design after he saw a line of washing.

John Dean Munroe Harvey was an architectural artist born in 1895. He was commissioned to paint this panorama of the Festival of Britain site on London's South Bank.

The painting shows the pavilions, restaurants, plazas and walkways of the Festival in bright colours, with the rest of London portrayed in muted tones.

In the foreground is the Dome of Discovery, designed by architect Ralph Tubbs, which was the largest domed building in the world at the time. Beyond the Dome is the Royal Festival Hall, designed by Leslie Martin, Peter Moro and Robert Matthew. To the right of the Dome is County Hall, which at the time was the headquarters of the London County Council.

Barbara Hepworth was a sculptor born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 1903. She studied at Leeds School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Hepworth was commissioned to provide two sculptures for the Festival of Britain: Contrapuntal Forms and Turning Forms.

This letter shows Hepworth writing from her studio in St Ives, Cornwall in April 1951. It confirms that Turning Forms had been installed the week before and asks for payment. It is part of a collection of contracts and associated correspondence between the festival organisers and artists and designers.

The Festival of Britain had its main site in London, but events took place across the country, organised by local councils and community groups. This poster is advertising a performance of the operetta 'Tom Jones' by the Sunderland Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.

The Festival as a whole was a celebration of British culture and innovation. Around the UK, people enjoyed exhibitions, performances, sporting events and fairs. Records and photographs of these events are often preserved in local archives, and reports from the time can be found in online newspaper archives.

This image shows the model factory building at Castlereagh, near Belfast. It was designed by architectural partners Robert Ferguson & Samuel McIlveen, and Henry Lynch-Robinson. The building still stands at the junction of Alanbrooke and Montgomery Roads.

The Northern Ireland exhibition was designed by Willy de Majo and showcased the contributions Northern Ireland was making to post-war industrial recovery. Northern Ireland was well known for its shipbuilding and textile industries in particular.

Visitors were treated to displays of traditional and contemporary manufacturing and farming techniques. Industries were explained using models and graphics as well as some live demonstrations.

This image shows the mock-up of a poster promoting the Festival of Britain Exhibition of Industrial Power held in Glasgow. Coal and water from the earth feed upwards into the dark silhouette of a large factory, which itself connects to two brighter factory silhouettes.

The exhibition was held in Kelvin Hall, an existing venue in the West End of Glasgow. It housed vast displays including a 105-feet-long sculptured mural of a coal cliff by Thomas Whalen, a mine with real pit cages for visitors to descend in, a 10,000-gallon waterfall, and a model atomic energy display with a 30-feet-high, million-volt lightning machine.

The exhibition design team was headed by writer Alistair Borthwick and architect Basil Spence. Despite their efforts, it sadly failed to attract the large crowds it had aimed for. Over the three months it was open, around 282,000 people visited.

Many photographs were taken during the five months the Festival of Britain was in operation. This image shows people relaxing on the terrace of the Festival's Regatta Restaurant, sitting on 'Antelope' and 'Springbok' chairs designed by Ernest Race.

In the post-war period, resources were scarce and designers had to work creatively with the materials available. The chairs had splayed legs so they could be stacked, and the seats allowed rainwater to drain away.

To the right of the terrace is a 'Bailey' bridge – a temporary structure developed for the military in the Second World War. This one was built next to the Hungerford Bridge to help bring visitors across the river.

The organisers of the Festival of Britain wanted to ensure as many people as possible could participate in the celebration of British culture and innovation.

This picture shows the 'Secrets of Nature' exhibition on the HMS Campania, a converted Second World War aircraft carrier. The ship toured the coast, staying at each port for 10–14 days.

Over the five months of the festival, the Campania visited Southampton, Dundee, Newcastle, Hull, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Birkenhead and Glasgow.

The official guide to the Festival was written by Ian Cox, the Director of Science for the exhibition. The introduction explained that: ‘The Exhibition, which tells a continuous story, will make most sense if the Pavillions are visited in the order shown; but each Pavillion can be visited separately if so desired’.

The guide included a breakdown of the elements that made up each exhibition, along with a series of maps showing the routes around them. The cover of the guide featured the Festival symbol designed by Abram Games, and the inside included colourful advertisements for products and companies involved in the exhibition.