National Centre for the Performing Arts

The National Centre for the Performing Arts, often simply called China's National Opera, sits two blocks west of Tiananmen Square in Beijing and looks like a giant silver egg floating in a 35,500-square-metre artificial lake. The French architect Paul Andreu, best known for Paris airport terminals, won the 1999 competition with a 212-metre-long, 46-metre-tall titanium-and-glass ellipse whose entrance runs as a glass tunnel beneath the water. Opened in 2007, it contains three auditoriums for opera, symphonic concerts and theatre, plus an art museum, a film hall and below the lake a complete rehearsal centre. Acoustics in the main hall were tuned by Vienna specialists Mueller-BBM with fabric-covered pearwood panelling. Daytime tours without a performance cost 30 yuan; concert tickets start at 80 yuan and should be booked weeks ahead. A walk around the lake at night is a sight in itself.