The Sydney Opera House has been officially nominated for the world heritage list as "a masterpiece of human creative genius."

The dispatch of the official submission to Paris was announced on the Opera House steps Monday by Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Heritage Ian Campbell and officials of New South Wales state.

Campbell described the Sydney Opera House as "a masterpiece of human creative genius and a masterful architectural and engineering achievement."

The result of the nomination will be known by mid-2007.

Dane Jorn Utzon started design work on the Sydney Opera House in 1957 and construction began in March 1959. The Opera House, which was officially opened by Elizabeth II on Oct. 20, 1973, was pitched to become world heritage listed in 1980, but the building was deemed too young.

Source: Xinhua