Barbican Centre Barbican Centre is owned, funded, and managed by the City of London Corporation, the third-largest arts funder in the United Kingdom. It was built as The City's gift to the nation at a cost of £161 million (equivalent to £480 million in 2014) and was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 March 1982. The Barbican Centre is also known for its brutalist architecture. The second-floor library is one of the five City of London libraries. It is one of the largest public libraries in London and has a separate arts library, a large music library
National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) (; literally: National Grand Theatre), and colloquially described as "The Giant Egg" (巨蛋), is an arts centre containing an opera house in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The Centre, an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass surrounded by an artificial lake, seats 5,452 people in three halls and is almost 12,000 m² in size. It was designed by French architect Paul Andreu. Construction started in December 2001 and the inaugural concert was held in December 2007. The exterior of the theater is a titanium-accented glass