Crawick Multiverse hosts Festival of the Solstice

The first anniversary of the conversion of a former opencast coal mine into a major landscape artwork is being marked with a Festival of the Solstice.

The three-day event is being held at the Crawick Multiverse near Sanquhar.

A range of music and performances is planned in an "extraordinary fusion of art, science and the environment" which runs until Sunday.

The festival will also see the unveiling of a new artwork by the man behind the multiverse, Charles Jencks.

The event is designed to celebrate the summer solstice - the longest day of the year - which fell earlier this week.

Mr Jencks said: "To bring together artists, world-renowned scientists, superb performers and so many members of the local community is quite wonderful - and will be a huge amount of fun."

The Duke of Buccleuch - who funded the £1m project - said the landscape artwork had welcomed 13,000 visitors in its first year.

"We are delighted that Crawick Multiverse is rapidly becoming a regional hub for artistic and scientific activity as well as for education," he said.

"Our aim is to inspire creative thinking and encourage interdisciplinary debate."

The Crawick Multiverse officially opened to the public on the summer solstice last year - which fell on 21 June.