a World Heritage house

Big news from UNESCO

The World Heritage Committee inscribed 22 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during its ongoing session in Christchurch. The new inscriptions include 16 cultural properties, five natural and one mixed, cultural and natural.

In a decision unprecedented in the history of UNESCO’s Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the Committee deleted one property, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, from the List because of Oman’s failure to preserve the outstanding universal value of the Sanctuary.

After the additions made this year, UNESCO’s World Heritage List numbers 851 properties including 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties.
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Sydney Opera House (Australia) was listed as a cultural property, a great architectural work that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation both in architectural form and structural design.

And

Inaugurated in 1973, the Sydney Opera House, is listed as a great architectural work of the 20th century that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation, both in architectural form and structural design. A great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour, the building has had an enduring influence on architecture. The Opera House comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ‘shells’ which roof two main performances halls and a restaurant. These shell-structures are set upon a vast platform and are surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses. In 1957, when the project of the Sydney opera was attributed by an international jury to the then almost unknown Danish architect Jørn Utzon, it marked a radically new and collaborative approach to construction. In listing the building, the Sydney Opera House is recognized as a great artistic monument accessible to society at large.

World class listing ... for the Opera House.
Photo: Bob Pearce

Aaahhhh... one of my all time favourite buildings. If I wasn't going to so many football games, I'd go to another opera there.

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Thank goodness for the weekend.