Three decades ago, Sam Wanamaker -- then an aspiring actor -- pulled up in Southwark in a cab and was amazed to find that the fabled Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse didn't actually exist. Worse, a tiny plaque was the only sign on the former site of the world's most legendary theater. So appalled was he that London lacked a center for the study and worship of the Bard of Bards, Wanamaker worked ceaselessly, until his death, to raise funds for his dream -- a full-scale reconstruction of the theater. The dream was realized when an exact replica of Shakespeare's open-roof Globe Playhouse (built in 1599; incinerated in 1613) was created, using authentic Elizabethan materials and craft techniques -- green oak timbers joined only with wooden pegs and mortise and tenon joints; plaster made of lime, sand, and goat's hair; and the first thatched roof in London since the Great Fire. In addition, a second, indoor theater has been added, built to a design of the 17th-century architect Inigo Jones. The whole complex stands 200 yards from the original Globe on the appropriate site of the 17th-century Davies Amphitheatre, admittedly more a bullbaiting, prizefighting sort of venue than a temple to the legitimate stage, but at least Samuel Pepys immortalized it in his diaries.

The Globe is a celebration of the great Bard's life (1564-1616) and work, an actual rebirth of his "wooden O" (see Henry V), where his plays are presented in natural light (and sometimes rain) to 1,000 people on wooden benches in the "bays," plus 500 "groundlings," who stand on a carpet of filbert shells and clinker, just as they did nearly four centuries ago. For any theater buff, this stunning project is unmissable. Although the open-air Globe Theatre offers performances only during the summer season (generally mid-May to mid-September), it can be viewed year-round if you take the helpful tour offered by the Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition, a comprehensive display housed in the adjacent UnderGlobe, which provides fascinating background material on the Elizabethan theater and the construction of the modern-day Globe; it has occasional displays and workshops, some aimed at children. If you're thrilled by the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe, you might want to get the complete picture by visiting an exhibition of its near neighbor, the Rose Theatre, at 56 Park St., which was built even earlier, in 1587. COST: £8, joint ticket available to Rose Theatre exhibition. Tube: Southwark, then walk to Blackfriars Bridge and descend the steps; Mansion House, then walk across Southwark Bridge; or Blackfriars, then walk across Blackfriars Bridge.