60 Fun Facts About Sydney Opera House

Which Danish architect designed the Sydney Opera House?

He won the design competition in 1957 but resigned in 1966 and did not come back to Australia to see it finished.

Who formally opened the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973?

The televised opening included fireworks and Beethoven's Ninth; the architect declined his invitation to avoid overshadowing the event.

How many years passed between the architect's competition win and the building's formal opening?

The original 1957 estimate promised completion on Australia Day 1963.

On which headland of Sydney Harbour does the Opera House stand?

It sits between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, next to the Royal Botanic Garden and within sight of the Harbour Bridge.

What is the Opera House site called by the local Gadigal people of the Eora nation?

The point was once a small tidal island called Tubowgule before being joined to the mainland with fill in 1818–21.

The headland is named for an Aboriginal man who persuaded Phillip to build him what there?

Woollarawarre Bennelong worked as a cultural go-between for the British in the early 1790s.

What building was demolished in 1958 to clear the site for the Opera House?

The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot stood on the footprint of the original 1817 fort.

Which Sydney Symphony conductor lobbied for the Opera House and its harbourside site?

Premier Cahill had wanted the venue near Wynyard station in the CBD.

Which New South Wales premier launched the design competition and authorised construction?

His government's decision is often overshadowed by the cost overruns and the architect's resignation that followed.

How many entries did the 1955–57 international design competition receive?

They came from architects in 32 countries, competing for a grand prize of 5,000 Australian pounds.

Which famous Finnish-American architect on the jury picked Utzon's design from the 30 finalists?

The other jurors were Henry Ashworth, Cobden Parkes and Royal Festival Hall architect Leslie Martin.

The roof 'shells' are all sections of a sphere of what radius?

The spherical solution, found in mid-1961, let arches of different lengths be cast from a common mould.

How many precast concrete sections make up the roof?

Each weighs up to 15 tonnes; the whole building rests on 588 piers sunk as deep as 25 metres below sea level.

Roughly how many tiles cover the roof shells?

They form a subtle chevron pattern in glossy white and matte cream that reads as plain white from a distance.

The roof tiles were manufactured in which country?

Höganäs normally made stoneware tiles for paper mills; it took three years to develop the 120 mm 'Sydney Tile'.

How high above sea level is the highest point of the roof?

That is about the height of a 22-storey building.

The building's exterior is largely clad in panels of pink granite quarried where?

Inside, Australian white birch plywood from Wauchope in northern New South Wales is a signature finish.

How many seats does the Concert Hall have?

It is home to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; the architect's original design seated only 2,000 and was rejected.

The Concert Hall's pipe instrument holds what world record?

It has more than 10,000 pipes.

The Opera Theatre was renamed in October 2012 after which famous Australian soprano?

It seats 1,507 and is the Sydney home of Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet, though its orchestra pit is notoriously cramped.

Which venue was the first interior rebuilt to the original architect's design, in 2004?

He had been re-engaged as a design consultant in 1999, three decades after his resignation.

What was the projected cost of the Opera House when it was first estimated in 1957?

The final bill in 1973 came to roughly fifteen times the estimate.

What did the Opera House ultimately cost by its completion in 1973?

Even in October 1966, when the architect resigned, only $22.9 million had been spent.

Which firm built the roof shells and made the 2,400 precast ribs in an on-site factory?

Its engineer Joe Bertony devised the adjustable steel 'erection arch' that held each roof up during assembly.

Which engineering firm monitored construction and solved the structural puzzle of the shells?

The shell design was one of the earliest uses of computers in structural analysis.

The 1965 election of which premier's government led to the architect's resignation a year later?

Askin had been a vocal critic of the project before taking office, and his works minister withheld the architect's fees.

Which Minister for Public Works accepted the architect's resignation in 1966?

The architect said withheld fees and a lack of collaboration forced him out.

Which Australian architect took over the design role and finished the interiors after 1966?

He agreed only on condition the original architect could not return, and concluded that concert and opera could not share one hall.

Which two-word phrase did the original architect use to describe his treatment by the NSW government?

He wrote it years later, still bitter about the way the works minister had withheld his fees.

Who was the first person to perform at the Opera House, singing to construction workers at lunch in 1960?

The American bass-baritone sang 'Ol' Man River' from the scaffolding while the workers ate.

Which opera was the first performed in the Opera Theatre, on 28 September 1973?

Edward Downes conducted and Sam Wanamaker, later founder of Shakespeare's Globe, produced.

The Concert Hall's first public concert, in September 1973, was devoted to which composer?

Charles Mackerras conducted and Birgit Nilsson sang the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung to close.

Which architecture award, the field's highest honour, did the Opera House's designer receive in 2003?

The citation called the Sydney Opera House his masterpiece.

In what year did the Sydney Opera House become a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

It had been on Australia's Register of the National Estate since 1980.

The building's designer died in 2008. How many times had he returned to see the finished Opera House?

His son Jan and daughter Lin attended a state memorial in the Concert Hall in 2009.

Which bodybuilder won his final title inside the Opera House in 1980?

The 1980 Mr. Olympia was staged in the Concert Hall.

Which Irish rock band played a free 1978 concert on the Sydney Opera House steps, released as a live album?

Crowded House chose the same steps for their record-breaking farewell show in 1996.

Which world leader addressed a crowd of 40,000 at the Opera House in 1990?

He also attended a choral performance of 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica'; the Pope had spoken in the Concert Hall three years earlier.

In 2003, two protesters painted what slogan in red on the highest sail?

Dave Burgess and Will Saunders were protesting the Iraq War.

Which musician curated the first Vivid Live programme at the Opera House in 2009?

Vivid's light projections onto the sails have since become an annual Sydney winter fixture.

A 2018 petition of over 298,000 names opposed using the sails to advertise what?

Radio host Alan Jones had demanded the Opera House chief be sacked for refusing Racing NSW.

Roughly how many people visit the Opera House site each year?

Around 350,000 of them take a guided tour, and 1.4 million attend one of 1,800-plus performances.

Which swimmer carried the Olympic torch to the top of a shell during the Sydney 2000 relay?

From there the flame went on to Cathy Freeman and the cauldron at Stadium Australia.

Which building phase was based on the image of whales breaching the water?

The architect's inspirations also included bird wings, clouds, walnuts, rivers and palm leaves.

Where in the building was the design of the roof tested before construction?

The tests established wind pressures on the roof shape and shaped the design of the tile fixings.

In 1972, striking construction workers took control of the site for how long?

They worked a 35-hour week and reportedly improved morale and efficiency before management returned.

Besides the Opera House, which building near Copenhagen is considered its designer's other masterpiece?

He also built the National Assembly in Kuwait and the Kingo Houses near Helsingør.

The Opera House's designer, born in Copenhagen, grew up in which Danish city, where he took an interest in ships?

His father was a naval architect, and Utzon nearly pursued a naval career himself.

Which Pritzker juror said the Opera House's architect 'made a building well ahead of its time'?

The prize came in 2003, five years before his death.

Ove Arup, the engineer behind the Opera House, was born in which English city?

His father was a Danish vet and his mother Norwegian; the firm he founded still bears his name.

Why did New South Wales scrap plans to light the sails for King Charles's 2023 coronation?

Premier Chris Minns said the sails had been lit up too often at taxpayers' expense.

On what date did the Sydney Opera House celebrate its 50th birthday?

A New Year fireworks display had returned for the 40th anniversary year a decade earlier.

Roughly how many performances does the Sydney Opera House host each year?

They draw more than 1.4 million attendees, while around 350,000 people a year take a guided tour of the building.

How many seats are in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, home of Opera Australia?

Its cramped orchestra pit is notoriously dangerous to musicians' hearing, a legacy of the halls being swapped after Utzon left.

What were the perspex 'acoustic clouds' over the Concert Hall stage meant to fix?

The very high roof starved musicians of reflections; the rings were added just before opening and did not really work.

The Opera House's air-conditioning, Australia's largest when built, is cooled by what?

Danish firm Steensen Varming designed the water-cooled heat pump system, which remained in use into the 2020s.

Which artist's 1959 tapestry, commissioned by Utzon, was finally hung in the Western Foyer in 2016?

Called The Dice Are Cast, it had sat in the Utzon family home in Denmark for more than 50 years.

What did the original competition brief call for the Opera House's large hall to seat?

Acoustic adviser Lothar Cremer later warned that pushing Utzon's 2,000-seat design to 3,000 would be disastrous for the sound.

The building is run by what kind of state-government body, set up specifically for it?

The building has been on heritage registers since 1980 and was a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign.

From which New South Wales town was the white birch plywood used inside the Opera House sourced?

Other interior finishes include off-form concrete and brush box glulam timber.