National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania

Located in Skenderbej Plaza, the Tirana Opera is part of a network, along with other opera houses in Central and Eastern Europe. The National Theatre of Opera and Ballet is the largest theater in the country, and has two entities year round, music and dance. The building is fairly new, built in 1953, just after the communist era of WWII. This theater helped develop the capital's arts, which prior to that there was no place for performances. Since its inception, groups and orchestras have come from various countries in the communist bloc. Unfortunately, like other official communist buildings, it's pretty ugly.