October 20th

On this day – 20th October 1973 – Sydney Opera House Opened 

Queen Elizabeth II (The British Queen) opened the iconic building in Australia on the 20th of October in 1973. The Danish Architect Jørn Utzon designed the building after winning a competition that was held in 1957. The building of the factory started in 1959, but the building was only completed in 1973 at a cost of $102 million. This was 1457% over the estimated building costs, and it also took 10 years longer than anticipated to finish the building. The first concert to be hold was Beethoven’s symphony number 9. The architect, Utzon, was not invented to the opening ceremony. The building hosts a range of venues and it has over 1500 performances every year, and is today considered one of the most iconic buildings in Australia.