Art and Culture in Beijing

"The Beijing National Stadium, dubbed Bird’s Nest for its beautiful steel, nest-like design, was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The arena where the opening ceremony of the games that left the world slack-jawed took place has since become an emblematic architectural piece in the Chinese capital and a huge tourist attraction. Located in the Olympic Green, very close to the Water Cube, the stadium is enormous — it can seat 91,000 spectators and houses a four-star hotel with 80 rooms. Such a grandiose structure came at an eye-popping $480 million and is rumored to cost $11 million to maintain yearly. Bird’s Nest is staggering in daylight, but it’s when the sun has set that the iconic stadium is at its most impressive." - MATADOR_NETWORK