The Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive and famous 20th-century buildings. Situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, with parkland to its south and close to the enormous Sydney Harbour Bridge, the building and its surroundings form an iconic Australian image.
Soon after Eugene Goossens became resident conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1947, he proposed that a new Concert Hall and Opera Theatre be built for Sydney on Bennelong Point. The Committee confirmed the site of Bennelong Point and recommended a competition for the design of the building. On 29 Jan 1957 Jorn Utzon, who had submitted a revolutionary design was declared winner of the competition.
The Bennelong Point Tram Depot, present on the site at the time, was demolished in 1958, and formal construction of the Opera House began in March, 1959. The project was in three stages. The first stage (1959-1963) consisted of building the upper podium; the second stage (1963-1967) was building the outer shells and the third stage was the interior design and construction(1967-73).
The Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973.
The Opera House covers 1.8 hectares of land. It is 183 metres tall and about 120 metres wide at its widest point. It is supported on 580 concrete piers sunk up to 25 metres below sea level. It has five theatres, five rehearsal studios, four restaurants, six bars and numerous souvenir shops. The opera house's roof is constructed of 1,056,000 glazed white granite tiles.
Its five theatres are the Concert Hall (with a seating capacity of 2679), Opera Theatre (1547 seats) , Drama Theatre (544 seats), Playhouse (398 seats) and Studio Theatre (364 seats).
