Sydney Opera House

Culture, beauty and art combine at the Sydney Opera House

Although Sydney has a lot of wonderful places to visit, one of the most iconic and
worldwide recognised, is the Sydney Opera House. This majestic building represents
artwork of the XX century and is one of the most striking buildings on the continent.
The idea of building an opera theatre came after the second world war, when the
country needed a musical space and so, in 1954, the government undertook the
project. The government decided its location should be next to the Sydney Botanical
Gardens and announced a competition for architects to submit designs as bids.
Architects from more than 30 countries applied, but it was Jørn Utzon who won the gig
after first being rejected for being “too ambitious”. The Opera House was finally
designed by him in 1957 and has since been the stage for multiple art presentations,
ballets and theatre plays over the years.

The construction as expected to take only three years but it wasn’t until 15 years later
when the project was completed due to ongoing engineering problems. The original
construction budget was a measly three million dollars, but the actual spend came
closer to a total cost of 102 million dollars. Architect Utzon gave up on the project
halfway through as, according to him, the quality of the buildings interior sound didn’t
correspond to its exterior majesty.

Today the building is considered a World Heritage site and is home to several theatre
complexes and more than 1000 rooms, most of them dedicated to music studios, with
the capacity to seat over 5000 people.

The building is located in Bennelong Point, on the south side of the Sydney harbour
near the Central Business District and is surrounded on three sides by the harbour and
the neighbouring Royal Botanic Gardens.

A natural and ambitious concept

Many people believed the design of the Opera House was inspired by the sails of a ship
and a nod to the navy. The actual design was inspired by an orange. Architect Utzon
stated that “It is like an orange, if you peel one orange, you get these segments, similar
shapes to these. It was like this on my models. I didn’t think they should be like sails in
the harbour. It was a coincidence they were similar. I was influenced by sails when my
father was a naval architect, and I was acquainted with big shapes (ships) I had never
seen Sydney Harbor when I made this design, though I felt very acquainted with the
places by photos and navy letters”.

The Opera House is administered under the supervision of the Art Ministry of New
South Wales and is home to the Sydney Symphonic Orchester and the Sydney Theatre.
It has five theatres, five testing studios, two main rooms, four restaurants, six bars and
numerous souvenir stores.

A visit to the Opera House is a must do if you’re in the city so make sure you check the
website to see what’s on and book well in advance to avoid any disappointment. The
acoustic sensation and the ambience get together with an impressive architecture
provides a gratifying experience.
If you only have a short period in the city make sure you head here to simply take
pictures of the building, those with a little more time can enjoy a guided tour to learn
about the history of the building. Make sure you head to the Opera House Bar after for
cocktails in the sun by the harbour and to soak up the city of Sydney’s true beauty.