National Centre for the Performing Arts (The Giant Egg): Dome and Concerts

Immediately west of the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square along West Chang'an Avenue, with direct underground access from Tiananmen West Station on Subway Line 1, Exit C, a futuristic ellipsoid dome of brushed titanium panels and curved ultra-clear glass appears to float effortlessly in the middle of a shimmering artificial lake. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (affectionately nicknamed The Giant Egg by locals) is a bold modern architectural statement in the centre of historic Beijing.

Walking through the underwater glass corridor

Andreu solved the challenge of building a massive three-auditorium complex next to the red walls of the Forbidden City by sinking sixty percent of the building below ground and surrounding the titanium shell with a shallow reflecting pool. As a result, there are no doors breaking the exterior curve of the dome at water level. Instead, visitors descend into the north plaza and walk through an underwater gallery beneath a thick glass ceiling where ripples of water and sunlight dance overhead before emerging into the central atrium.

Two ways to experience the interior

You do not need an expensive opera ticket to step inside, as the venue offers both affordable daytime architectural sightseeing tickets and evening performances across four venues inside the shell:

• The Opera House: clad in golden metallic mesh at the centre of the dome for grand ballet, Western opera and Chinese dance drama.
• The Concert Hall: finished in crisp white relief ceilings and housing a custom-built German Klais pipe organ with six thousand pipes, while weekend mornings often feature accessible classical concerts.
• The Theatre: an intimate purple-and-crimson silk hall equipped with a traditional revolving drum-stage specifically designed for Peking Opera and spoken drama.

Even if you only walk the free outer lakeside promenade, come at blue hour just after sunset, when the glass curtain splitting the centre of the titanium shell glows like an open stage curtain reflected across the water.