page_title: Fife
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Fife / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: The Lomond Hills seen from Auchtermuchty, Howe of Fife
context_page_description: Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross (i.e. the historic counties of Perthshire and Kinross-shire) and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. Fife is one of the six local authorities part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer.
  Until 1996 Fife was a local government region, divided into three districts: Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. Since 1996 the functions of the district councils have been exercised by the unitary Fife Council. Fife was a county of Scotland until 1975, having been the parliamentary constituency of Fife in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1885 and the Fife constituency in the Parliament of Scotland until the Acts of Union 1707. In older documents it was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
  Fife is Scotland's third largest local authority area by population.
context_section_description: Fife contains 4,961 listed buildings and 48 conservation areas. Domestic sites of importance include Falkland Palace, Kellie Castle, Dunfermline Palace, St Andrews Castle, Culross Palace and Kirkcaldy's Ravenscraig Castle. Fife has a number of ecclesiastical sites of historical interest. St Andrews Cathedral was home to the powerful Archbishopric of St Andrews, and later became a centre of the Scottish Reformation, while Dunfermline Abbey was the last resting place of a number of Scottish kings. Balmerino and Culross abbeys were both founded in the 13th century by the Cistercians, while a century before Lindores Abbey was founded by the Tironensians outside Newburgh; all were highly important sites.
  The Stanza Poetry Festival, East Neuk Festival, and Pittenweem Arts Festival are events of national cultural importance. Smaller festivals like the Cupar Arts Festival also take place. The Byre Theatre in St Andrews and Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy are both highly regarded as touring venues, the latter also being the base of the grand opera company Fife Opera.  The Byre has re-opened in Autumn, 2014 following its going into administration in 2012.
caption: A closer view of the Lomond Hills, seen from Auchtermuchty
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