[9] However the National Eisteddfod of Wales as an organisation traces its history back to the first event held in 1861, in Aberdare.

[10][11] One of the most dramatic events in Eisteddfod history was the award of the 1917 chair to the poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, bardic name Hedd Wyn, for the poem Yr Arwr (The Hero).

[14] In recent years efforts have been made to attract more non-Welsh speakers to the event, with the official website stating "everyone is welcome at the Eisteddfod, whatever language they speak".

There is also a Welsh learners area called Maes D. These efforts have helped increase takings, and the 2006 Eisteddfod reported a profit of over £100,000, despite costing £2.8m to stage.

[citation needed] It was proposed that the 2018 National Eisteddfod in Cardiff would use permanent buildings to host events, rather than the traditional Maes site and tents.

This was the first year no Eisteddfod had taken place since 1914, when the event was cancelled at short notice because of the outbreak of the Great War.

[10] Hundreds of tents, pavilions and booths are erected in an open space to create the Maes (field).

Car parking for day visitors alone requires several large fields, and many people camp on the site for the whole week.

The festival has a quasi-druidic flavour, with the main literary prizes for poetry and prose being awarded in colourful and dramatic ceremonies under the auspices of the Gorsedd of Bards of the Island of Britain, complete with prominent figures in Welsh cultural life dressed in flowing druidic costumes, flower dances, trumpet fanfares and a symbolic Horn of Plenty.

Other fixtures of the maes are the Pabell Lên (literature pavilion), the Neuadd Ddawns (dance hall), the Pabell Wyddoniaeth a Thechnoleg (science and technology pavilion), Maes D (learners' pavilion), at least one theatre, Y Cwt Drama (the drama hut), Tŷ Gwerin (folk house), Y Lle Celf ("the Art Place") and hundreds of stondinau (stands and booths) where groups, societies, councils, charities and shops exhibit and sell.

In 2014, the Eisteddfod began to award a Welsh-language Album of the Year (Albwm Cymraeg Y Flwyddyn) during its Maes B event.

It has visited six of the seven current cities in Wales: Bangor, Cardiff, Newport, St David's, Swansea and Wrexham.