DHAKA: The Sydney Opera House, world heritage-listed as ‘one of the indisputable masterpieces of human creativity’, celebrated its 40th birthday Sunday with a flotilla of lifesavers, Aboriginal dancers and a gigantic cupcake.

Huge crowds packed the steps for a distinctively Australian performance on the glittering harbourfront, where three generations of Danish architect Jorn Utzon’s family were the guests of honour.

It was a postcard-perfect day beneath the same cloudless blue skies that inspired Utzon’s winning design to build Sydney an opera house back in 1956, the white sails drawn from his childhood in the Aalborg shipyards.

‘A building like this happens once in a lifetime,’ Utzon’s son Jan told revellers on Sunday, reports daily Hurriyet.

BDST: 1731 HRS, OCT 20, 2013
RoR/SRS