Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is one of the most famous buildings in the world.It is considered to be one of the most recognizable images of the modern world although the building has been open for only about 30 years.The Sydney Opera House is as representative of Australia as the pyramids are of Egypt.
6 225 square meters of glass and 645 kilometers of electric cable were used to build the Opera House.It includes 1 000 rooms.It is 185 meters long and 120 meters wide.The building’s roof sections weigh about 15 tons.There are 1 million tiles on the roof.It provides guided tours to 200 000 people each year.
But do you know the Opera House with a roof was designed by a famous Danish architect,Utzon?In the late 1950s the Australian Government established an appeal fund to finance the construction of the Sydney Opera House,and conducted a competition for its design was chosen.Utzon spent a few years reworking the design and it was 1961 before he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature—the sails of the roof.The venture experienced cost blowouts.In 1966 the situation reached crisis point and Utzon resigned from the project.The building was finally competed by others in 1973.Sydney Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth on 20th October 1973.
The Opera House reaches out into the harbour.Seen from the air or a ferry,the skyline of the Sydney Opera Hose,the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge,is beautiful.