And it's no surprise that it's called The Eighth Wonder and is performed on special occasions. Its award-winning design is what earned it the Pritzker Prize and #87 AbsoluteVisit. People come to Sydney to admire the view of the opera house; in fact, the expressionist design with large concrete “shells” has become the symbol of the city and country.
This famous structure in Sydney, Australia houses seven different venues in which performances can occur: the Concert Hall, the Opera Theatre, the Playhouse, Drama Theatre, the Studio, the Forecourt, and the Utzon Room.
Paid for mainly by the State Lottery in Sydney, the opera house was originally estimated to cost approximately $7 million; it ended up costing closer to $102 million!
The Grand Organ in the Concert Hall is the largest mechanical organ in the world, taking 10 years to complete and using 10,154 pipes.
The Sydney Opera House is massive, with the tallest point on the roof reaching 220 feet (87 meters) above sea level. This is equivalent to a 22-story building! It is also a very wide complex; you could line up eight Boeing 747s from end to end and match the width of the Opera House.
The largest venue in the Opera House is the Concert Hall, with 2,679 seats!
Where is The Sydney Opera House?
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Inside the Sydney Opera House Ranked #1 by Brad Harbach
Sydney Opera House & Harbor Ranked #2 by Brad Harbach
After spending two more quick nights in Auckland we arrived in Sydney early in the morning on Monday the 15th. Australia is the next country we planned to stop in on our journey around the globe. We were actually in Australia briefly last year with my brother Eric so it isnt the first time being here for either of us. On our trip last year we only had a few days in the country all of which were spent exploring Sydney. So for this time around there wasnt much that we needed to really see and in fact we really only were spending time in Sydney because we were trying to get ou... read more
