Discover the story behind Australia's number one tourist destination - which welcomes more than 8 million visitors a year - and where 1000 workers of 32 nationalities laboured between 1959 -1973. The Sydney Opera House is a tale of staggering technical challenges, political advantage, and bitter recriminations. Inside, you'll find facts about a feat of imagination, a concrete clash of budgets and artistic vision, and a construction site where hardhats, shorts and sandshoes were the safety standards of the time. A blend of perfection and practicality - paid for by lottery tickets gladly bought by the public for more than a quarter of a century - The Little Book of the Sydney Opera House presents one of the greatest civic monuments of the 20th century. 'So many opera houses look like boots. Utzon has solved the problem.'- Sydney Morning Herald 'The stage was set for one of the most accidental, random, and astonishing acts of architectural patronage of modern times.'- The Opera House Hachette