Beijing Capital Museum & the National Centre for the Performing Arts
Arts and culture buffs are exceptionally well catered to in Beijing. Of particular interest is the excellent Beijing Capital Museum, one of the country's leading art museums. Opened in 1981, the museum boasts a vast collection of artifacts, including ancient items of porcelain and bronze, traditional calligraphy and artwork, and many fine statues from Chinese and other Asian cultures.
Other highlights of Beijing Capital Museum's collection of more than 200,000 critical cultural artifacts – many originating from in and around Beijing – include the huge stele of Emperor Qian Long, weighing more than 40 tons, standing nearly seven meters in height and containing ancient scripts and writings.
Another modern Beijing landmark worth visiting is the National Centre for the Performing Arts, located in Beijing, China. It is known by its nickname 'the giant egg' because of its distinctive flattened-dome shape. The building is like an island in the middle of an artificial lake of 35,500 sq.m. Around the lake, a green ring of 39,000 sq.m is intended to isolate the building from the city's noise.
French architect Paul Andreu designed the National Centre for the Performing Arts and housed an opera house capable of seating 2,398. Construction work began in 2001, and the inaugural concert was held in December 2007. The building is an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass, designed to resemble an egg floating on water or a water droplet. Andreu designed the building to be an iconic feature instantly recognizable. It is covered with 18,000 titanium plates, integrated with more than 1,000 sheets of ultra-white low-iron glass with high light transmission. The titanium shell is divided into a curved glass curtain, gradually widening from top to bottom, measuring 100 m in width. When illuminated at night, this gives the impression of a stage curtain being pulled back, while the glass curtain bathes the interior in light during the day.
Address:
- Beijing Capital Museum: 16 Fuxingmen Outer St, Xicheng, Beijing
- The National Centre for the Performing Arts: 2 W Chang'an St, Xicheng District, China
