The Sydney Opera House is an Australian icon, but pride in the World Heritage Site spans the globe.
SBS Europe Correspondent Brett Mason visited the family home of the Danish architect who designed the sailed structure, in the small coastal village of Hellebaek, about an hour north of Copenhagen.
There, Jorn Utzon's son revealed his father's final wish for the famous landmark is still yet to be realised.
Nestled away in the Danish hinterland, the Opera House echoes in the home where Jorn Utzon created a masterpiece.
It was at his desk that his vision for the Sydney Opera House was born.
“For 56 years it has been part of my life and that of the family,” Jorn Utzon's son, Jan, says.
“Therefore, of course the 40th anniversary is a very special occasion, [it’s] just a bit sad that he is not around to experience this.”
Following in his famous father's footsteps, Jan too is an architect, and will proudly represent the Utzon family at celebrations in Sydney, more than four decades after his father was forced from his own project, mid-construction.
“He didn't hold it against Australia or Australians as such,” says Jan of his father.
“The technical demands were considerable but the political demands, the human demands if you will, were what actually wore people down.”
It was a life-changing project, not only for the Utzon family, but also the many thousands who have been privileged to perform inside the iconic structure.
Jan says his father devoted years to designing and redesigning the perfect sculpture for such a unique and majestic backdrop.
“[When] you arrive at the Opera House, you enter a new world,” Jan says.
“You go into this and you enter a world of fairytales and music trying to maximise that experience, the culmination of which would be when the curtain goes for the performance.
Fascinated by the sea, Jorn Utzon often came here for inspiration.
The Danish architect used his hometown harbour to try and imagine what his Opera House might look like.
He pretended that Sweden, just 4 kilometres that way, was Sydney's north, Denmark, Sweden's south, and this historic palace set on a peninsula was Bennelong point.
Denmark is fiercely proud of its many connections to the Opera House and will join in celebrations live via video link.
“That our crown prince happened to meet an Australian girl and marry her and now she is the Crown Princess of Denmark - all this builds up together to connect Australia and Denmark in a way I think which is unheard of,” says Jan.
“And this I think perhaps makes it difficult for Danes to really whether the Opera House is a Danish or an Australian icon.
“But I'm sure that Australians at least will feel this is our landmark. This is our icon.”
One of Jorn Utzon's final projects before his death in 2008, was a master plan to refurbish the Opera Theatre to a world-standard.
“If you live your life in a place where you don't hear music other than through the radio and you come to the opera house it is wonderful,” Jan says.
“But if you travel around the world and listen to these performances in other venues then you realise the failings of the Opera Theatre here.”
The signed plans were presented to the New South Wales state government in 2005, and have been shelved ever since.
“My father had hoped that he would be alive to see the commencement of that work,” Jan says.
He says the funding for the master plan would be a very good 40th birthday present for the Opera House.
“Absolutely and we’re looking forward to unwrapping this parcel of money.”
