Australia isn't readily known for their displays of architecture throughout the world, but one modern marvel changed that perception and stands out as one of the grandest concert halls on the planet. The Sydney Opera House is a true architectural feat, showcasing man's ingenuity and grasp of structural integrity.

Sitting directly on the harbor and enjoying World Heritage Site status since 2007, this lavish, expansive structure is as recognizable as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and other great monuments of the world. It is to Australia what the Colosseum is to Rome, and the Opera House has become the paradigm symbol of Oz.

Situated on Bennelong Point, the peaked Opera House towers above the shoreline and makes up most of Sydney's skyline on the shore. The iconic structure was designed by Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect, and resembles a ship at full sail. It was a challenging structure to build, but one that Utzon met head-on.

Sydney's Opera House was a freak occurrence and could have easily been built at another location. In 1956, the NSW Government held a design competition, hoping to lure in the world's greatest architects. The Government was looking for the best design, period, and costs and parameters didn't matter at the time.

All architects were charged with designing two performance halls, one for symphony concerts and the other for the opera. It was inevitably the outlandish nature of Utzon's design that landed him the honor of developing this harbor-bound attraction.

The Opera House would take years to build. Because of the unique construction methods employed by Utzon, the framework of the top shells alone took 8 years, and 3 just to tile them properly. Not only was the design something unique and visionary, but the construction had to exceed the architect's planning in order for the structure to be built.

Nothing seemed to be going right on the Opera House's construction, and amid cost overruns, a changing public opinion and pressure from the Government, Utzon eventually retired and left the construction to other architects, including Ted Farmer, who completed the interiors and glass walls of the building.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Sydney Opera House in 1973, but there was still plenty of work to be done. In the late 1980s, the structure was completely revamped and new features were added, and in 1999, Jorn Utzon came back aboard the team and designed a new set of principles to be used for all future upgrades.

The Sydney Opera House is constantly changing in small ways, but the look of the structure remains the same. The structure is immense. The roof is comprised of over 1 million tiles; the House contains 1000 rooms and has an impressive 6225 square meters of glass. It cost over 102 million $AU to build at the time, and to date, the Opera House conducts over 3000 events annually and gives guided tours to over 200,000 visitors.