SYDNEY REVISITED
On Thursday we had a full day of Sydney culture. First we went to the world famous Opera House which is actually a performing arts center with 2 concert halls and 3 performance (drama) halls. The Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, who designed the building was a modernist and visionary although his design was influenced by ancient cultures. The solid base was modeled after Aztec monuments that looked upwards to the gods while having a firm base on earth. The drainage scheme was influenced by ancient Japanese designs. The white “sails”, which actually are supposed to represent clouds, were an engineering challenge. Finally, a scheme was developed to have the arches take the form of cuts from a sphere. The entire project was to have taken 3 years to build at a cost of about 5 million dollars. It actually took over 16 years to complete and the final price tag was over 100 million. Even though the initial design was controversial, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognized icons in the world.
On Thursday we had a full day of Sydney culture. First we went to the world famous Opera House which is actually a performing arts center with 2 concert halls and 3 performance (drama) halls. The Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, who designed the building was a modernist and visionary although his design was influenced by ancient cultures. The solid base was modeled after Aztec monuments that looked upwards to the gods while having a firm base on earth. The drainage scheme was influenced by ancient Japanese designs. The white “sails”, which actually are supposed to represent clouds, were an engineering challenge. Finally, a scheme was developed to have the arches take the form of cuts from a sphere. The entire project was to have taken 3 years to build at a cost of about 5 million dollars. It actually took over 16 years to complete and the final price tag was over 100 million. Even though the initial design was controversial, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognized icons in the world.
Thursday evening we actually got to attend an opera at the Sydney Opera House. We saw “The Pearlfishers” by Georges Bizet, the composer of “Carmen”. Thanks to a pre-opera lecture and super titles in English, we were able to appreciate this production which was sung in French. During intermissions, we took advantage of the lovely harbor views which are accessible from each of the theaters.During the day we took a harbor cruise, seeing Sydney from a water viewpoint. The Sydney Harbor is one of the best in the world. After a steak lunch at a lovely restaurant right on the bay in a restored original colonial building, we had a walking historical tour through the “Rocks”, which was the lower-income area during the colonial days. However, today the area has been saved from modern construction and restored as a vital tourist and economic area. The final photo is one of the first instances of "tax evasion". People were taxed on the number of windows that their houses had. Notice how some of the windows have been bricked in to avoid the tax.
No comments:
Post a Comment