The Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive and
famous 20th-century buildings. Situated on Bennelong Point in
Sydney Harbour, with parkland to its south and close to the
normous Sydney Harbour Bridge, the building and its
surroundings form an iconic Australian image.
surroundings form an iconic Australian image.
Soon after Eugene Goossens became resident conductor of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1947, he proposed that a new
Concert Hall and Opera Theatre be built for Sydney on Bennelong
Point. The Committee confirmed the site of Bennelong Point and
recommended a competition for the design of the building. On 29
Jan 1957 Jorn Utzon, who had submitted a revolutionary design
was declared winner of the competition.
The Bennelong Point Tram Depot, present on the site at the time,
was demolished in 1958, and formal construction of the Opera
House began in March, 1959. The project was in three stages. The
first stage (1959-1963) consisted of building the upper podium; the
second stage (1963-1967) was building the outer shells and the
third stage was the interior design and construction(1967-73).
The Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on
20 October 1973.
The Opera House covers 1.8 hectares of land. It is 183 metres tall
and about 120 metres wide at its widest point. It is supported on
580 concrete piers sunk up to 25 metres below sea level. It has five
theatres, five rehearsal studios, four restaurants, six bars and
numerous souvenir shops. The opera house's roof is constructed of
1,056,000 glazed white granite tiles.
Its five theatres are the Concert Hall (with a seating capacity of
2679), Opera Theatre (1547 seats) , Drama Theatre (544 seats),
Playhouse (398 seats) and Studio Theatre (364 seats).
