Relic No. 008Catalogued
The Opera House Without Room for Opera
- Site
- Bennelong Point, Sydney
- Era
- Designed 1957. Opened 1973.
- Material
- Concrete shells, sixteen years
- Intended use
- An opera house, by 1963, for £3.5 million
- Actual use
- Finished in 1973, for $102 million
- Status
- Beloved. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.
SYDNEY. Competition won in 1957. Estimated at £3.5 million, to open on 26 January 1963.
Opened 20 October 1973, ten years late, at $102 million, by one reckoning 1,357 percent over budget in real terms. Its architect resigned in 1966 and never returned to see it finished.
Perspex clouds were hung in the concert hall just before opening to correct the sound. The opera theatre is considered too small for large-scale opera.
The most famous opera house in the world. The large operas go elsewhere. Monk finds this very peaceful.
Noted.
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