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The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia. It is one of the 20th century's most famous and distinctive buildings.
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the building was formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.
The building and its surrounds occupy the whole of Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbour, between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and close by the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Though its name suggests a single venue, the building comprises multiple performance venues which together are among the busiest[citation needed] performing arts centres – hosting well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people. Performances are presented by numerous performing artists, including four resident companies: Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, more than eight million people visit the site annually, and approximately 350,000 visitors take a guided tour of the building each year. The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales State Government.
On 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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The opera house was built in 1903 to a design by Frank Matcham, who also designed the London Palladium (1910) and the London Coliseum (1904).
The Opera House ran as a successful theatre until 1927, when it was turned into a cinema. Silent films were shown until 1932 when the theatre was wired for sound and could present ‘talkies’. It also became the venue for an annual summer theatre festival. After the Second World War, it continued to serve primarily as a cinema until 1976. In 1979, it was refurbished and reopened as a venue for live performance.
In 2014, the opera house's former finance chief was jailed for two years for stealing nearly £250,000 from the opera house accounts in 2012 and 2013.
Priscianus: Opera. Edited by Benedictus Brognolus. Venice: [Jacobus de Fivizzano, Lunensis], for Marcus de Comitibus and Gerardus Alexandrinus, 1476. Opening page of text (a2r), with seven-line initial “C” supplied in blue and white on a square gold ground, the bowl of the initial filled with foliate decoration in purple and blue. Sp Coll Hunterian Bw.2.9.
The Opera House is a landmark of the city as well as a relic of its colonial past. Built in 1912 by the French, it is no adorned with the smiling portrait of Ho Chi Minh.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiphong_Opera_House
Our time in Haiphong city was mostly limited to this evening, so we made the most of it with a nightime meander (not a great time for photography but better than nothing) Being the only Europeans around surprised and amused many of the locals in equal measure, which was rather nice! :-)