Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House, New South Wales, Australia, was opened in 1973. The sail-shaped roof is intended to echo the sails in the harbour.

By the year 2000, the Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was already more than 26 years old. The process of construction itself took no fewer than 18 years from the acceptance of the design, although that was partly due to administrative difficulties. The Opera House remains an impressively modernistic (if not still futuristic) building.

Opera house designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, located on Bennelong Point, Sydney Harbour, built 1957–73. It is known for the billowing, white, sail-shaped shells that form the roof structure, and has become an icon of 20th-century architecture. It became a World Heritage Site in 2007.

The building houses the national opera, symphony, and theatre of Austalia. It also hosts many travelling performances as well as political and business conferences. Its theatres include the Concert Hall, Opera Theatre, Drama Theatre, Playhouse, and Studio Theatre.

The design won an international competition in 1957, but the building of the complex was beset by conflict and escalating costs which resulted in Utzon's resignation from the project in 1966.