French Institute for Scotland
The French Institute is a cultural center which promotes French language and French culture in Edinburgh and in Scotland. It is composed of a cultural department, a courses department and a media library. It also hosts the Education officer for Scotland. The French Institute is located in Randolph Crescent in Edinburgh's West End. The French Institute is related to the French Institute for United Kingdom in London. It is part of the French Foreign Ministry.
Founded in 1946 by René Massigli, Ambassador of France to the United-Kingdom, the French Institute is located in historical buildings. Indeed, since the building construction in the 1820s, the numbers 12 and 13, which used to form one unique building, hosted Flora Stevenson's family and a maternity.
The Auld Alliance, which is the beginning of the friendship between Scotland and France against England was signed in 1295. In 1942, the General de Gaulle said about this alliance it was the « oldest alliance in the world ».
In 2011, for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the French Institute presented a show, 'Two Johnnies live upstairs', especially created for the building by the French compagny Mythos festival. This show has been selected as one of the highlights of 2011 by The Scotsman.
The French Institute is involved in the Edinburgh cultural life and is a partner of the Cameo, Edinburgh and hosts the office of the French Film festival UK.
The Media Library organises activities for kids in French. L'Oreille Musicale, workshop about French music is new from 2011. On November edition, l'Oreille musicale invited the Breton band Santa Cruz to speak about their musical tastes and influences.
The library is open all week days and access is free. By contrast, only the French Institute members can borrow documents.
The media library contains over 10.000 documents, mainly in French, about a lot of different aspects of France and French culture. You can find documents about literature, art, history, geography, humanities and children's literature. A lot of references book are available, like dictionaries, encyclopaedias and travel guides. The novel collection contain many novels by Scottish authors translated in French (e.g. Robert Louis Stevenson, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid).
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