DAVID ADAMS looks at the origins of a scheme to protect sites of international significance…
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PICTURE: David Adams |
This year marks 40 years since the Sydney Opera House was completed and it’s status as a global icon of modern architecture remains unchallenged.
The building’s origins go back to the 1950s when the then Premier of New South Wales, Joseph Cahill, convened a conference in 1954 to discuss the establishment of a “proper” opera house in Sydney.
The following year, the government announced Bennelong Point had been selected as the site of the new building and it was a year after that – in February, 1956, that a competition for the building’s design was launched. Around 233 entries were received from 28 countries as far afield as Kenya and Morocco.
The winner, announced in early 1957, was Danish architect Jørn Utzon, with a radical design involving large sail-like structures. Utzon made his first trip to Sydney in July that year and, after much planning, in 1959 construction on the new building began.
Work continued for the next 14 years, though not all smoothly – Utzon withdrew from the project in 1966 amid tensions with the government of the day. But in 1973 the Sydney Opera House finally opened with the first official performance a production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace by the Australian Opera, held in the Opera Theatre on 28th September. The opera house was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20th October.
The Sydney Opera House was formally listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 28th June, 2007.
For what’s happening to celebrate the 40th anniversary, check out http://40.sydneyoperahouse.com/.
If you have something you’d like to know the origins of, simply send an email to [email protected].
