The Sydney Opera House – in pictures

The designer of the Sydney Opera House, the Danish architect Jørn Utzon, on the construction site in 1964 Photograph: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA/NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Construction of the Sydney Opera House in 1966 Photograph: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA/NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA

Utzon's Opera House, given World Heritage status by Unesco Photograph: Alamy

A woman takes pictures of the Opera House during Australia Day festivities in Sydney Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Some of the 5,200 people who took part in a nude installation by the New York-based artist Spencer Tunick, entitled Mardi Gras: The Base, pose on the front steps of the Opera House on 1 March 2010 Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP

Workers survey the slogan painted in red on an Opera House sail by anti-war protesters in 2003 Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Competitors in action during the cycling leg of the men's triathlon at the Opera House on day two of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Arkady Shilkloper playing his three-metre long alphorn on the top of the largest sail of the Opera House Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

A woman takes a photograph as the Opera House is shrouded in an eerie blanket of dust on 23 September 2009 Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP

The International Fleet Review celebrates the centenary of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy fleet into Sydney Harbour on 4 October 1913 Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

A sunrise over the Sydney Opera House Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Sydney Opera House during the 2013 Vivid festival Photograph: AAP

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the 2011 new year Photograph: Tim Wimborne/Reuters