Which Australian city is famous for its Opera House with sail-like shells? Sydney.
The Sydney Opera House stands at Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, beside the central business district and near the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Its distinctive roof forms, often compared with sails or seashells, made it one of the world’s most recognizable buildings.
Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the international design competition in 1957. Construction began in 1959, and the building was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 20 October 1973. The project became famous for major cost and schedule overruns, and Utzon left before completion, although his design shaped the finished complex.
The Opera House is not a single theatre but a multi-venue performing arts center. Its spaces host opera, ballet, theatre, orchestral concerts, and contemporary performances. The roof’s appearance comes from large precast concrete structures covered with more than one million tiles. The building became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.