The national opera and ballet, founded in 1953, performs in the long, low socialist-modernist building that closes the western edge of Skanderbeg Square — the Palace of Culture. The building was constructed in the 1960s on the site of Tirana's old bazaar, demolished by the communist regime to make space.
Tickets are inexpensive and the season includes both classical opera and ballet and contemporary Albanian work. A performance is one of the cheapest big-city culture experiences in Europe.