http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177 http://ie2.trivago.com/images/layoutimages/logos/default.png http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10469934 Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:57:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10300425 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:17:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10300417 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:17:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10300407 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:17:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10186868 Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:45:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10186848 Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:35:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183182 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:40:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183168 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:37:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183166 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:37:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183106 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:26:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183104 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:25:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183100 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:24:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/picture-i10183096 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:22:00 +0100 ]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/review-o827013 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:51:00 +0200 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/review-o643117 Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:44:00 +0100
The Opera House is actually less of an opera house and more of a general performing arts venue, with a concert hall being the biggest stage, and as such is undoubtedly a worthy location in the biggest and busiest (although perhaps not the most cultured) Australian city. The prices are high (as expected) and for the vast majority of visitors to Sydney it's the Opera House as an iconic structure that matters, and not what is performed within.

One always worries a little about such famous buildings and locations, as the reality sometimes doesn't live up to the expectations created by the imagery. But one doesn't need to worry about the Opera House: the reality is very much a match for the countless pictures and the building perched on the end of the Bennelong Point at one end of the Circular Quay, a place that even without the Opera is big on pretty vistas and impressive buildings is simply stunning.

Sydney Opera House is a creation of the Danish architect Jørn Utzon, designed in the late 50's and built between 1959 and 1972, with several changes of the original design and resignation of Utzon himself in the meantime. Apparently, the original drawings were very schematic, presenting an idea of the building rather than an actual project, and quite astonishingly the form of the “sails or “shells was not determined until the construction stage. They are now sections of a sphere, but were supposed to be based on a parabolic curve. Sphere sections were chosen mostly due to cost considerations: and how lucky a choice it was, as it's perhaps the fact that all the shells are composed of a sections of a sphere with the same radius that gives the Opera a unity of form that lifts it from a merely grand to sublime.

The concrete shells/sails sit on a rather monumental podium, which is less clearly inspired than the roof, but clearly necessary both for construction and utilitarian purposes and which also grounds the building in a strange way.

Around the Opera, walkways and stairs allow access from all sides, and the superb situation means that the whole building can be viewed not only from close by but from a distance at numerous angles: from approach along the Quay, from the other side of the Sydney Cove, from under the Harbour Bridge, and of course from the water itself. The astonishing thing is that it looks good and interesting from every perspective. It's this variety of perspective that makes the Sydney Opera House such a compelling site. The building has as almost as many looks as it has viewers, and even for the same person its image shifts and changes with the time of the day, the position, the season and the weather.

One can come back to the Sydney Harbour numerous times and still stop to look: like all objects of true beauty, be it natural or man-made, Utzon's creation is ever changing and yet remains its own, unmistakable and unique self.

]]> http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/rating-e268541 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:03:00 +0100 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/rating-e153846 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:36:00 +0200 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/rating-e112876 Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:06:00 +0200 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/rating-e6555 Tue, 22 Mar 2005 07:21:00 +0100 http://www.trivago.com/sydney-44310/theatre--opera/sydney-opera-house-14177/rating-e6461 Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:48:00 +0100