The Sydney Opera House has long been a hallmark of the city and a symbol of Australia. Even people who are far from art and architecture know the answer to the question of where the most beautiful building of our time is located. But few of them have an idea what difficulties the organizers of the project faced and how high the probability of its freezing was. Behind the seemingly light and airy "House of the Muses", which leads the audience to the land of music and fantasies, there are titanic investments hidden. The history of the creation of the Sydney Opera House is not inferior in originality to its design.
The main stages of construction of the Sydney Opera House
The initiator of the construction was the British conductor J. Goossens, who drew the attention of the authorities to the absence in the city and throughout the country of a building with good spaciousness and acoustics, with a clear interest of the population in opera and ballet. He also began collecting funds (1954) and chose a site for construction - Cape Bennelong, surrounded on three sides by water, located just 1 km from the central park. The building permit was obtained in 1955, subject to a complete refusal of budget funding. This was the first reason for the delay in construction: donations and revenues from a specially announced lottery were collected for about two decades.
The international competition for the best design for the Sydney Opera House was won by the Danish architect J. Utzon, who proposed to decorate the harbor with a building resembling a ship flying on the waves. The sketch shown to the commission looked more like a sketch, the author little-known at that time did not really count on winning. But luck was on his side: it was his work that appealed to the chairman - Eero Saarinen, an architect with an unbreakable authority in the field of public construction. The decision was not unanimous, but in the end Utzon's sketch was recognized as the most ergonomic, in comparison with it other projects looked cumbersome and banal. He also looked spectacular from all angles and took into account the conditions of the environment with water.
The construction, which started in 1959, stretched out for 14 years instead of the planned 4 and demanded 102 million Australian dollars against the base 7. The reasons were explained both by the lack of funds and the requirement of the authorities to add 2 more halls to the project. The shell-spheres proposed in the original plan could not accommodate all of them and had acoustic deficiencies. It took the architect years to find an alternative solution and fix the problems.
The changes had a negative impact on the estimate: due to the increased weight of the building, the foundation built in Sydney Harbor had to be blown up and replaced with a new one, including 580 piles. This, coupled with new requirements to add commercial sites (investors wanted to get their share) and the freezing of funding from the state lottery in 1966, caused Utzon to refuse from his most significant job in his career and from visiting Australia in the future.
Opponents of the project accused the builders of embezzlement and in fact they were right. But they had no chance to invest in the initial 7 million: at that time there was no floating lifting equipment in Australia (each crane to install the beams cost 100,000 by itself), many solutions were radically new and required additional funds. More than 2000 fixed roof sections were made according to separate sketches, the technology turned out to be costly and complicated.
Glazing and roofing materials were also ordered externally. 6000 m2 glass and more than 1 million units of white and cream colored tiles (azulejo) were produced in European countries on special order. To obtain an ideal roofing surface, the tiles were mechanically fastened, the total coverage area was 1.62 ha. The cherry on top is the specialized suspended ceilings missing from the original design. The builders simply did not have the opportunity to complete the project before 1973.
Description of the structure, facade and interior decoration
After the grand opening, the Sydney Opera House was quickly attributed to the masterpieces of Expressionism and the main attractions of the mainland. Pictures of him have appeared in movie posters, magazines and souvenir postcards. The massive (161 thousand tons) building looked like a light sailboat or snow-white shells that changed their shade when the lighting changed. The author's idea of capturing the glare of the sun and moving clouds during the day and bright lighting at night has fully justified itself: the facade still does not need additional decorations.
Local materials were used for the interior decoration: wood, plywood and pink granite. In addition to 5 main halls with a capacity of up to 5738 people, a reception hall, several restaurants, shops, cafes, many studios and utility rooms were located inside the complex. The intricacy of the layout has become legendary: the story of a courier who got lost and walked onto the stage with a parcel during a play is known to everyone in Sydney.
Interesting facts and features of visiting
The author of the idea and developer of the main project, Jorn Utzon, received a number of prestigious awards for it, including the Pritzker one in 2003. He went down in history as the second architect, whose creation was recognized as a World Heritage Site during his lifetime. The paradox of the situation consisted not only in Jorn's own refusal to work on the project 7 years before graduation and from visiting the Sydney Opera House in principle. The local authorities, for some reason, did not mention his name at the time of the opening and did not indicate him in the authors table at the entrance (which was strikingly different from the gold medal given to him from the Council of Architects of Sydney and other forms of gratitude from the cultural community).
Due to the numerous changes and the lack of the original building plan, it is really difficult to assess Utzon's real contribution. But it was he who developed the concept, eliminated the bulkiness of the structure, solved the issues of location, secure roof fastening and the main problems with acoustics. Australian architects and designers were fully responsible for bringing the project to completion and interior decoration. According to many experts, they did not cope with the task. Some work on the improvement and improvement of acoustics is carried out to this day.
Other interesting facts related to the discovery and development of the complex include:
- constant demand and fullness. The Sydney Opera House welcomes between 1.25 and 2 million viewers a year. The number of tourists coming for outdoor photographs is impossible to count. Domestic excursions are conducted mainly during the day, those wishing to attend evening performances need to book tickets in advance;
- multifunctionality. The opera houses, in addition to their main purpose, are used to organize festivals, concerts and performances of significant personalities: from Nelson Mandela to the Pope;
- completely open access for tourists and no dress code. The Sydney Opera House welcomes guests seven days a week, except for Christmas and Good Friday;
- worldwide recognition of uniqueness. The complex is deservedly included in the 20 man-made masterpieces of the twentieth century, this building is recognized as the most successful and outstanding construction of modern architecture;
- the presence of the world's largest organ with 10,000 pipes in the main concert hall.
Repertoire and additional programs
Fans of Russian music have a legitimate reason to be proud: the first piece staged on the stage of the House of Muses was S. Prokofiev's opera War and Peace. But the theater's repertoire is not limited to opera and symphonic music. In all of its halls, a variety of scenes and numbers are realized: from theatrical miniatures to film festivals.
The cultural associations attached to the complex, the Australian Opera and the Sydney Theater, are world famous. Since 1974, with their help, the best productions and performers have been presented to the audience, including new national operas and plays.
The estimated number of events held reaches 3000 per year. To get acquainted with the repertoire and order tickets, you should use the resources of the official website. The Sydney Opera House program is constantly evolving. The strategy of digital recording of their performances in high quality, followed by screening on TV and in cinemas, despite fears, attracted even more viewers. The best innovation was recognized as the construction at the beginning of the new millennium of an open area Forecourt for performances, shows and concerts on the shores of Sydney Bay.
