Largest theatre

The largest building used for theatrical performances is The Great Auditorium in The Great Hall of the People, aka The National People’s Congress Building (Renmin Dahuitang), completed in September 1959. It is located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The actual space used as a theatre is The Great Auditorium, whose primary use is as the seat of the National People’s Congress. The Great Auditorium’s volume is some 90,000 cubic metres, and its dimensions are 76 m (249.3 ft) long, 60 m (196.8 ft) wide and 33 m (108.2 ft) high. It seats approximately 10,000 people - the exact size of the Chinese Parliament. There are 3,693 seats on the lower level, 3,515 seats on the balcony, 2,518 seats in the gallery and from 300-500 on the dais. The entire Great Hall of the People, designed by Zhang Bo, covers 171,800 sq m (1,849,239 sq ft) of floor space, is 356 m (1,167.9 ft) in length and 206.5 m (677.4 ft) in width. The centre peaks at 46.5 m (152.5 ft). In recent years, there have been concerts there. In January 2009, the American country music trio known as Lucy Angel became the first Western group ever to perform there and regaled government officials as well as other dignitaries. American music legend Bob Dylan, known for his protest songs of the 1960s, and a veritable man of the people, also brought his act to Beijing on 6 April 2011 but played at the Beijing Workers Gymnasium - not at The Great Auditorium within The Great Hall of the People.