The Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera house is one of the busiest performing arts center in the world. It opened in 1973, and since then, it has brought thousands of hours of entertainment for millions of people. In addition, the many halls, and theaters housed under its famous shells. continues to attract theater goers from every country.
In an average year, the Sydney opera house presents theater, musicals, operas, contemporary dance, ballet, and every form of music imaginable. It has an average of 3,000 events each year with audiences totaling up to 2,000,000 people. About 200,000 people take tours of the complex each year. The Sydney Opera House is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week except for Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Before the opera house was built, there was no place to host operas, dances, and other entertainments. Instead they were given at Sydney's Town Hall. But this site still was not perfect. Then, Sir Eugene Goosens, the Chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and director of the NSW Conservatorium of Music, suggested the creation of an opera house. The construction of the opera house did not start until seven years afterwards. In 1954, the State Government agreed. They started a fund-raiser, but they soon realized the fund-raiser would not raise enough money. They used profits from the lottery to gather the 102 million they needed and the building was completed finished in 1975.
The site for the opera house was called Bennelong Point. Until this time, it was used as a wharfing area. To pick the design of the opera house an international contest was held. The winner was a Danish architect Jorn Utzon. It was estimated that the building would take years to finish. It was actually finished in mid 1973. The building started in March of 1959. The design that Jorn had created was practically impossible, therefore he altered the design, and 4 theaters were added. The official opening of the opera house was October 20th, 1973.
There are almost 1000 rooms including five main auditoriums. There are also five rehearsal studios, four restaurants, six theater bars, extensive foyer and lounge areas, sixty dressing rooms and suites, a library, an artists' lounge and a canteen known as the "Green Room." It also has administrative offices and extensive plant and machinery areas.
The building covers about 4.5 acres of its 5.5-acre site. It has about 11 acres of usable floor space. It is about 611 feet long and 380 feet wide at its widest point. The highest roof vault is 221 feet above sea level. The roofs are made up of 2,194 precast concrete sections. These sections weigh up to 15 tons each. They are held together by 350 km of steel cable. The roofs weigh 27,230 tons and are covered with exactly 1,056,056 Swedish ceramic tiles arranged in 4253 precast lids.
As you can see The Sydney Opera House is one of the most magnificent pieces of architecture in the modern world, and is definitely a place you have to GO!!!!!!
More info. http:// www.anzac.com/aust/nsw/soh.htm