Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales is one of the buildings of the 20th century's most unique and famous. The house is situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour near Sydney Harbour Bridge and the views of this building into a separate icon for Australia.
For the millions of tourists who come, this building has a charm in the shape like shells. Aside from being a tourist attraction, the building is also home to a variety of theater, ballet, and various other arts. The building is managed by the Opera House Trust and the headquarters for Opera Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The design is derived from a competition which was won by Jørn Utzon of Denmark in 1955. Utzon himself came to Sydney for supervision in 1957.
The house is also entered into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.
Sydney Opera House has interesting facts as well and this is the list:
- The Director of the New South Wales (NSW) State Conservatorium of Music in the late 1940s expressed a desire to build a larger theater of Sydney Town Hall
- It took fourteen years before NSW Premier Joseph Cahill asked to begin construction of the opera house
- A design competition was announced by NSW on 13 September 1955 to get the best design.
- Architects from 32 countries participated in this competition. A 39-year-old architect from Denmark, Jorn Oberg Utzon was declared the winner and awarded the construction project two years later.
- He was also given a prize money of £ 5000 and then won the Pritzker Prize, which is globally recognized as the highest award for works of architecture.
- The form of the building is like a shell made with white tile Sweden, makes the Opera House seem alive. Sun from dawn to dusk plays brilliance white ceramic surface perfectly.
- Sydney Harbor Port Jackson used as a background location. Ove Arup and Partners, an engineering company, towed to realize the architect's design.
- The roof of the opera house describes the sails were unfurled, an excellent amalgamation with the surrounding environment.
- The Opera House was built on a land area of 4.4 hectares with a length of 183 meters and width of 120 meters. Estimated initial construction cost is US $ 7 million, but costs swelled to approximately US $ 102 million.
- The period of construction of the Opera House took 10 years longer than planned at a cost of 14 times greater than the initial plan.
- Before construction, Bennelong Point was used as Governor Macquarie Fort and then used as a warehouse tram.
- The Sydney Opera House is one of the most characteristic buildings of the 20th century and also one of the most famous places for performing arts in the world.
- There are 233 designs were submitted in the competition and then selected one winner.
- The opera house to accommodate a variety of rooms such as the Opera Theater, Playhouse, Studio, Utzon Room, Drama Theater, and Forecour.
- Sydney Opera House also has a recording studio, two retail outlets, restaurants, and bars. Important ceremonies and conferences are also held in this building.
- On October 20, 1973, Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the Sydney Opera House.
- The entire complex is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, under the New South Wales Ministry of Arts.
- The house is visited by about 200,000 tourists each year. Playhouse, a theater show at the opera house has a seating capacity of 398 people.
- Sydney Opera House has its own opera called 'The Eighth Miracle'. Since opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House conducted at least 3,000 performances each year the number of annual audience reaches 2 million people.
- Sydney Opera House (Sydney Opera House) became one of the 20 finalists of the new Seven Wonders of the World. On June 28, 2007, this building obtained its status as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO