Sydney Opera House is a symbol of Australia

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The green continent is world-famous not only for kangaroos, koalas, warm oceans and bronze gods of surfing. There are also unique structures. At Cape Bennelong, like a fantastic sailboat, a mass of concrete and glass rises. This is a world-famous opera house. In Sydney every day you can see a lot of tourists. And be sure that one half of them have already seen a unique building, and the other will certainly visit it in the near future.

New Miracle

If foreigners easily recognize Moscow by St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, the Mausoleum, then the quaint opera house undoubtedly resurrects Sydney in our imagination. Photos of this attraction can be seen on any souvenir from Australia. The snow-white mass towering over the harbor has become one of the masterpieces of world architecture. The building has not only a catchy exterior, but also a curious history.

Sydney Opera in numbers

The height of the building is 67 meters. The length of the building is 185 meters, and the distance at its widest point is 120 m. The weight, according to the calculations of engineers, is 161,000 tons, and the area is 2.2 hectares. There are about 1 million tiles on the roof slopes. In addition to the two largest halls, there are more than 900 rooms. At the same time, the theater can accommodate approximately 10,000 spectators. The Sydney Opera House attracts 4 million visitors a year.

A bit of history

Australia has never been the center of musical culture. By the beginning of the 20th century, a symphony orchestra was functioning on the mainland, but it did not have its own premises. Only when Eugene Goossens received the position of chief director, they started talking about it out loud. However, the war and post-war period did not favor the start of large-scale projects. Only by the middle of the twentieth century, in 1955, the government issued a building permit. But no funds were allocated from the budget. The search for investors began in 1954 and did not stop throughout the construction. 233 architects submitted their works in the competition for the best project. Already at this stage, it became clear where the new musical theater would be built. In Sydney, of course.

Most of the applications were rejected by the jury, but one of the members of the commission - Eero Saarinen - actively advocated for some unfortunate applicant. It turned out to be a native of Denmark - Jorn Utzon. 4 years were allotted for the implementation of the project, the budget amounted to 7 million dollars. Despite the plans, by the end of the 60s, the Sydney Opera House was still under construction. The architect was accusedin that he does not fit into the estimate and is not able to translate his plans into reality. With sin in half, the construction was nevertheless completed. And in 1973, Queen Elizabeth II took part in the opening of the theater. Instead of four years required for construction, the project required 14, and instead of 7 million of the budget - 102. Be that as it may, the building was built to last. Even after 40 years of repair, he still did not need.

Architectural style of the theater

In the post-war period, the so-called international style reigned in architecture, the favorite forms of which were gray concrete boxes for purely utilitarian purposes. Australia also followed this trend. The Sydney Opera House was a happy exception. It was in the 50s that the world got tired of monotony and a new style began to gain popularity - structural expressionism. His great supporter was Eero Saarinen, thanks to whom the little-known Dane conquered Sydney. Photos of this theater can now be found in any textbook on architecture. The building is a classic example of expressionism. The design for that time was innovative, but in the era of the search for fresh forms, it came in handy.

According to the requirement of the government, the room had to have two halls. One was intended for opera, ballet and symphony concerts, the second for chamber music and dramatic productions. The architect designed the Sydney Opera House in fact from two buildings, and not from the same number of halls. It is noteworthy that in fact it is devoid of walls. On the same basisthere is a structure of many roofs shaped like a sail. They are covered with white self-cleaning tiles. During festivals and holidays, grandiose light shows are arranged on the vaults of the opera.

What's inside?

The concert and opera zones are located under the two largest vaults. They are very large and have their own names. The Concert Hall is the largest. Almost 2,700 spectators can sit here. The second largest is the Opera Hall. It is designed for 1547 people. It is decorated with the "Curtain of the Sun" - the largest in the world. There is also a "Curtain of the Moon" paired to it, located in the "Drama Hall". As the name suggests, it is intended for dramatic productions. Film screenings are held in the Playhouse. Sometimes it serves as a lecture hall. Studio Hall is the newest of all. Here you can join the modern theatrical art.

Wood, plywood and pink Turin granite were used in the decoration of the premises. Some fragments of the interiors evoke associations with a ship's deck, continuing the theme of a giant ship.

Interesting facts

Some say that the Sydney Opera House is a fantastic sailboat, others see the grotto system, others see pearl shells. According to one version, Utzon admitted in an interview that he was inspired to create the project by a peel carefully removed from an orange. There is a story that Eero Saarinen chose the project while drunk. Tired of the endless series of applications, the chairman of the commission simplytook out several sheets at random from a common pile. It seems that the legend appeared not without the participation of the envious Utzon.

Beautiful vaulted ceilings disturbed the acoustics in the building. Of course, this was unacceptable for the opera house. To solve the problem, interior ceilings were designed to reflect sound in a theatrical way.

It's sad, but Utzon was not destined to see his offspring completed. After being removed from the building, he left Australia, never to return here again. Even after receiving the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003, he did not come to Sydney to see the theatre. A year after the UNESCO organization assigned the status of a World Heritage Site to the opera house, the architect has died.