M Kursk snow-white hall Sydney. Sydney Opera House: interesting facts

Sydney Opera theatre can be called, without exaggeration, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world - who among us has not seen these sails or orange slices soaring into the sky, growing directly from the waters of Sydney Harbor? Opened in 1973 by the Queen of Great Britain, Elizabeth II, today this Musical Theatre is a true symbol of Australia. Interestingly, this site on Bennelong Point was once home to first a fort and then a tram depot, until it was decided to build a theater in 1958.

History of construction

The creator of this outstanding building of modern architecture was the Dane Jörn Utzon, who received the highest award in the world of architecture - the Pritzker Prize - for his project. Construction of the theater was originally expected to take about 4 years and cost the Australian government AUD 7 million. However, due to the interior decoration of the premises, it dragged on for 14 years! Accordingly, the construction estimate increased to 102 million Australian dollars.

General information about the Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House building covers an area of 2.2 hectares. Its maximum height is 185 meters, width is 120 meters. The famous theater roof consists of 2194 sections and weighs more than 27 tons! This entire seemingly airy structure is held in place by steel cables with a total length of 350 km. The top “shells” of the roof are covered with a million tiles of white and matte cream colors, which create different color schemes in different lighting conditions.

There are 4 scenes inside the building. Main Concert hall accommodates 2,500 people at a time, and the opera hall is designed for 1,500 people. The other two halls are used for theatrical drama productions. In addition, the building has a cinema hall and two restaurants.

Over almost 40 years of operation of the Sydney Opera House, more than 40 million people visited it, which is several times more population all over Australia. In 2007 he was listed World Heritage UNESCO.

On a note

Location: Bennelong Point, Sydney
Official website: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday from 9:00-19:30, Sunday from 10:00-18:00.
Tickets: The theater is free to enter during opening hours.

Sydney Opera House- one of the most famous and easily recognizable buildings in the world, which is a symbol largest city Australia, Sydney, and one of the main attractions of Australia. The sail-shaped shells that form the roof make this building unlike any other in the world. The Opera House is recognized as one of the outstanding buildings of modern architecture in the world and since 1973, along with the Harbor Bridge, it has been the hallmark of Sydney.

It is located in Sydney Harbour, on Bennelong Point. This place received its name after an Australian Aborigine, a friend of the first governor of the colony. It is difficult to imagine Sydney without the Opera House, but until 1958 there was a regular tram depot in its place, and before the depot there was a fort on this site.

HISTORY OF THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

The opera's history began on 17 May 1955, when the State Government granted permission to build the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point on the condition that no public funds would be required. An international competition was announced for the building project, to which 223 works were submitted - the world was clearly interested in the fresh idea.

But at the same time, it turned out to be very difficult to implement the idea, because it was necessary to fit two opera houses on a small plot of land measuring 250 by 350 feet, surrounded on three sides by water.

In 1957, Utson submitted a project for the Sydney Opera and won. No one expected this, least of all himself. His project was a series of barely developed drawings that, in fact, represented only the general idea of the Sydney Opera House - the theaters are placed close to each other, and the problem of walls is removed due to their absence: a series of fan-shaped white roofs is attached directly to the cyclopean podium. But the idea seemed brilliant to the jury.

The actual design and construction began. It's a long process. By mid-1965, relations between the architect and the Australian government of Prime Minister Robert Askin had reached an impasse. Davis Hudges, the Minister of Construction, accused Jörn Utson of being over budget, unprofessional, unrealistic and failing to complete the project. Utson was removed from the project, left Australia and never returned there. The project was completed by local architects. Utson was not even invited to the opening of the theatre. His name was not mentioned anywhere. And in 1975, Davis Hudges was knighted.

Construction of the theater was planned to take four years and cost seven million Australian dollars, but the opera house took fourteen years to build and cost $102 million. At the same time, the work of so many years has borne fruit - until now the building has not required any repairs or modernization of the interior.

It cannot be said that the Sydney Opera House immediately became a wonder of the world. For some time, humanity has been keeping an eye on it. Postmodernist times were approaching, and Utson’s bright, desperate modernist attraction excited few people. He was going through hard times. Today the name of this unfortunate Australian minister Hudges is remembered only in connection with the fact that he ruined the life of the great Utson. Then Utson gained a reputation as a person who draws projects that cannot be realized. He built only simple townhouses in his homeland, Denmark, Elsinore, and public buildings for Arab countries. But neither the Kuwaiti parliament nor the Central Bank of Tehran became masterpieces - their budgets were constantly being cut, reminding what happened in Sydney.

But in 2003 Jorn Utzon still deservedly received the Pritzker Prize for the project of the Sydney Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House was opened on October 20, 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II of England. The first performance in the new theater was S. Prokofiev’s “War and Peace.” Since then, the theater has held about 3,000 performances annually, watched by at least 2 million people.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

The theater serves as the cultural center of Australia. Its nine hundred rooms housed the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Opera, the Sydney Theater Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Australian Ballet. In addition to the opera hall, there is also a concert hall, drama and chamber theater halls, 4 restaurants and a reception hall. The theater curtain, woven in France, is the largest in the world. The area of each half of this miracle curtain is 93 m2. The huge mechanical organ of the concert hall is also a record holder - it has 10,500 pipes!

The Sydney Opera House is one of the architectural wonders of the world, perhaps the most famous building 20th century. The latest technologies and mind-blowing design ideas still bring all guests into indescribable delight.

Concert hall– the largest room inside the Opera. White birch wood, a vaulted ceiling, and special interior inserts are all used to improve the acoustic effect. Maximum seating capacity is 2679. The Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonic Choir and Australian Philharmonic Orchestra present a wide variety of musical performances, including performances by world-renowned artists and singers.

The Sydney Opera House is an Expressionist building with a radical and innovative design. The architect is Danish Jorn Utzon, who received the Pritzker Prize for the project in 2003. The building covers an area of 2.2 hectares. Its height is 185 meters and its maximum width is 120 meters. The building weighs 161,000 tons and rests on 580 piles lowered into water to a depth of almost 25 meters from sea level. Its power supply is equivalent to the electricity consumption of one city with a population of 25,000 people. Electricity is distributed over 645 kilometers of cable.

The roof of the opera house consists of 2,194 prefabricated sections, its height is 67 meters, and its weight is more than 27 tons, the entire structure is held in place by steel cables 350 kilometers long. The theater's roof is formed by a series of "shells" made of a non-existent concrete sphere 492 feet in diameter, commonly referred to as "shells" or "sails", although this is not the architectural definition of such a structure. These "shells" are created from prefabricated, triangle-shaped concrete panels that are supported by 32 precast ribs, made of the same material. All ribs form part of one large circle, which allowed the outlines of the roofs to have the same shape, and the entire building to have a complete and harmonious appearance.

The Sydney Opera House is a musical theater in Sydney, one of the most famous and easily recognizable buildings in the world, which is a symbol of the largest city in Australia and one of the main attractions of the continent - the sail-shaped shells that form the roof make this building unlike any other one another in the world. The Opera House is recognized as one of the outstanding structures of modern architecture in the world and, along with the Harbor Bridge, has been the hallmark of Sydney since 1973. On June 28, 2007, the theater was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Sydney Opera House was opened on October 20, 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

History of creation

The Sydney Opera House is located on Sydney Harbor on Bennelong Point. This place received its name after an Australian Aborigine, a friend of the first governor of the colony. Until 1958, on the site of the theater there was a tram depot, and even earlier, a fort. The architect of the opera house is the Danish Jorn Utzon, who received the Pritzker Prize for the project in 2003. Despite the applied concept of spherical shells, which solved all construction problems and was well suited for mass production, precision manufacturing and ease of installation, construction was delayed, mainly due to the interior decoration of the premises. Construction of the theater was planned to take four years and cost seven million Australian dollars. However, the opera took fourteen years to build and cost $102 million. The theater was formally opened on October 20, 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II of Australia in front of a large crowd. The ceremony took place to the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and was accompanied by fireworks.

Architecture

The Sydney Opera House building is an Expressionist building with radical and innovative design. The building covers an area of 2.2 hectares. Its length is 185 meters and its maximum width is 120 meters. The building weighs 161,000 tons and rests on 580 piles, lowered into water to a depth of almost 25 meters from sea level. Its energy consumption is equivalent to that of a city with a population of 25,000 people. The energy is distributed over 645 kilometers of cable. The roof of the opera house consists of 2,194 prefabricated sections, its height is 67 meters, and its weight is more than 27 tons, the entire structure is held in place by steel cables with a total length of 350 kilometers. The theater's roof is formed by a series of "shells" of a 492-foot-diameter load-bearing concrete sphere, commonly referred to as "shells" or "sails," although this is not the architectural definition of such a structure. These shells are created from precast concrete panels in the shape of a triangle, which are supported by 32 precast ribs of the same material. All the ribs form part of one large circle, which allowed the outlines of the roofs to have the same shape, and the entire building to have a complete and harmonious appearance. The entire roof is covered with 1,056,006 azulejo tiles in white and matte cream colors. Although…

When we say “Australia” or “Sydney”, we immediately imagine the quaint building of the Sydney Opera House. Resembling a swan or a surreal ship trying to unfurl its sails, or gigantic shells, the Opera building is main symbol Sydney.

SYDNEY OPERA. At the heart of the Opera House project is the desire to bring people from the world of daily routine to the world of fantasy, where musicians and actors live.
The Sydney Opera House is the only building of the 20th century to rank with such great architectural symbols XIX, like Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Along with the Hagia Sophia and the Taj Mahal, this building belongs to the highest cultural achievements of the last millennium.

Almost every person has heard about the Sydney Opera House. However, few of us know that besides this wonderful building, the symbol Australian city The port and port bridge are also considered. The ensemble of three buildings in Sydney is the subject of “hunting” by photographers, because the view is simply amazing. It’s no secret that the architect’s idea of creating such a roof for the opera was inspired by the sails in the harbor.

Let's delve a little into the history of the creation of the Sydney Opera House and perhaps we will understand why today this building has surpassed the port in its popularity - the previous unofficial symbol of the city. Back in 1954, a competition was announced, the winner of which could realize his idea. Then 233 highly qualified specialists from 32 countries immediately wanted to participate in the competition. The architect who received the right to realize his idea was the little-known Dane Jorg Utzon. He, like almost all the other contestants, only knew about the place where the opera would be located, but had never been there. The only help for him was photographs of the area. Uzton found inspiration, which has already been mentioned briefly, in the city port (he was very impressed by the luxurious white sails) and, to some extent, in the temple buildings of the ancient Mayan and Aztec peoples, which he visited in Mexico
The idea of Jörg Uzton turned out to be so new, one might even say revolutionary, that the builders took on it, despite its great complexity. However, the complexity was only one of the rough edges on the way to the implementation of the project - it was soon discovered new problem. With a stated cost of $7 million and a implementation period of 10 years, the builders failed to meet either the deadlines or the cost. Over the course of 20 years, the project “ate up” more than $100 million, and more than once the city council had the issue of curtailing the expensive project on its agenda. It is worth recalling that at the beginning of the second half of the last century, money was much more expensive than it is today. But the government men of Sydney, with exceptional ingenuity, solved the problem of lack of funding - the Sydney Opera House was built... at the expense of the lottery.

Clouds constantly gathered around the project, it was showered with a stream of criticism, and in 1966 Uzton could not stand it. Technical, financial and bureaucratic failures forced him to step away from the leadership of the project. The main technical challenge, along with its aesthetic perfection, were the giant concrete sails. Architects called them among themselves “elliptical paraboloids,” and in fact it turned out that there was no way to construct them in original form, accordingly, the entire project had to be redone. It took many hours of work and complex technical calculations to rework the project, but in the end the opera was built. The version of the building that we see today was a triumph not only of Utzon’s project, but also the embodiment of the technical thought of the Australian architects who were involved in the implementation of his idea.

The work was completed in 1973, and the opening ceremony of the Sydney Opera House took place on October 20 of the same year. An unusually large number of people attended famous people, but the main guest was Queen Elizabeth II of England. According to numerous reviews, it was the building of the Sydney Opera House that could not be surpassed to this day - it is considered the most beautiful building, built since the end of the Second World War. Photographers and connoisseurs of all things beautiful claim that it is best to admire this miracle of architecture and design from the stern of the ship, then the building turns into a kind of castle in the air or a white-winged swan ready to take off

The Sydney Opera House is a complex of almost 1000 rooms, home to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera, Australian Ballet, Sydney Theater Company, Sydney Dance Company,
as well as several other small halls, one of which is located in the open-air courtyard.

Those who are not completely amazed by the appearance of the Sydney Opera House are completely unsettled interior decoration opera, the style of which was called “space age gothic”. The theater curtain, woven in France, is the largest in the world. The area of each half of this miracle curtain is 93 m2. The huge mechanical organ of the concert hall is also a record holder - it has 10,500 pipes. Under the opera vaults there are five halls for various performances, as well as a cinema and two restaurants. The opera hall can accommodate 1,550 spectators at once, and the concert hall - 2,700. The Sydney Opera House has become home to a symphony orchestra, a philharmonic choir and a city theater.

The sail-shaped shells that form the roof make this building unlike any other in the world. Now it is one of the most famous and easily recognizable buildings in the world, a symbol of Sydney and one of the main attractions of Australia. The Sydney Opera House is recognized as one of the outstanding buildings of modern architecture in the world.

The Sydney Opera House finds its absolute charm at night - when it is flooded with lantern lights.

The Sydney Opera House not only built on new heights music, but also became a symbol of the entire country.

The port bridge and its design have always caused smiles among local residents. Designed by Australian engineer John Job Crewe Bradfield, the bridge was nicknamed the coat hanger. Officially, this functional steel structure bears his name - Bradfield Highway. The gray color of the bridge is explained by the cheapness of the paint, which was used during the crisis years of the bridge's creation - from 1923 to 1932. The total length of the bridge is 1150 meters, and the length of the spans between the arched trusses is 503 meters. The maximum height of the bridge is 135 meters relative to the water level. Tourists making walking across this bridge, you will be able to enjoy excellent views of the bustling port and the whole of Sydney.

It's hard to imagine Sydney without the Opera!

Each of the architectural creations has its own character and soul, they all have their own history of creation. Many of them are gray, monotonous and dull, some are funny or original. But there are buildings - giants, they do not necessarily have to be huge in size, the main thing in these structures is the impression they make and the power they have over a person.

The Sydney Opera House is just one of these amazing buildings. This business card Sydney and all of cultural Australia. The Sydney Opera House has an unusual and even slightly tragic history...

How did the construction of the opera house begin?

In 1955, the New South Wales state government decided that Sydney needed its own cultural center, because Australians were no worse than the prim, snobby English and progressive Americans! It was decided to erect the building on the cape, which, like a protruding tongue, juts out into Sydney Harbor. It was necessary to build a whole complex of halls and premises under one roof, so that in one place it would be possible to stage global productions, give concerts, stage modern musicals and vaudevilles, and besides, you could have a luxurious lunch and just have fun.

223 architects from all over the world competed for the right to design the Sydney Opera House. And the project of a not particularly famous Dane with the unpronounceable name Jorn Utzon won this competition. The beauty of his idea was that the building actually had no walls; amazing vaults in the form of shells or sails rested directly on the foundation. Thus, the architectural creation, open to view from all sides (after all, it stands on a peninsula), visually acquired the lightness and swiftness of a sailboat!

Fate plays with man, and man... builds an opera house

The trouble was that Utzon's project was actually a sketch, an artistic sketch. Therefore, at first it was not possible to calculate the real costs of money and time. Newspapers trumpeted that construction would be completed in 4 years and would cost $7 million. By the way, a necessary condition for the construction of the Opera was that not a cent from the state treasury would be spent on it. So, a national lottery was announced (before this, Utzon had jokingly sold his kisses for $100 to raise money for the construction). In 1959, construction began, and the author of the project was made his manager.

Time passed. The work was dragging on. The calculations did not come true. The first version of the foundation had to be blown up. The design of the vaults turned out to be unstable and difficult to implement. Utzon suffered. One day, in 1961, when he, almost despairing, was once again putting convex triangular pieces on the table from which he was supposed to make domes, it dawned on him: each shell should be, as it were, part of an imaginary sphere, then the roof would become stable and harmonious! “It’s like an orange peel!” he exclaimed. “If you cut an orange peel into sectors and put these slices in pairs, you will get sail shells!” The project has found new life.

But time was lost, construction was eating up money. Prime Minister Cahill, the Opera aficionado who laid its first stone, has died. The ruling party in the country has changed. The architect began to be persecuted. In 1965, Utzon was forced to resign and leave Australia forever. He was replaced by large group local builders who did not grab the stars from heaven. The opera was completed long and painfully. And if the outside of the building still remained as the talented and strong Dane imagined it, then the interior design of the Sydney Opera House turned out to be quite dull and formulaic.

Finally, in 1973, the grand opening of the Opera House took place, which took 14 years to build and cost $102 million. The theater was opened by Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Utzon was very offended, and even after receiving the Pritzker Prize for his wonderful brainchild in 2003, he never came to see it. He died in 2008.

Beauty is eternal!

But the architectural miracle built by Utzon lives on! It is called an excellent example of “frozen music” - in the words of the great Goethe. The white vaults resemble magical shells, flying sails, fantastic hangars for flying ships...

The amazing roof is lined with special tiles, which are slightly rough to the touch, like snake skin (you can touch the tiles).

The joints are so well matched that the surface of the vaults looks absolutely smooth, and fantastic laser shows can be created on it.

The building has two main halls: the Opera House, which seats 1,500 people, and the Concert Hall, which seats 2,500 people.

In addition to them, the Sydney Opera House has two more stages, numerous restaurants and entertainment venues. Free concerts and performances are constantly held in the square in front of the theater. Here you can hear national music performed by the aborigines.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the wonderful features without which it is impossible to imagine the face of the modern world.