Is Norway planning to surpass Australia as the country with the "coolest opera building on the water"? Could be.

Norway's King Harald V has just opened a $835 million white marble Opera House on the shore of the Oslo Fjord in the heart of the capital, BBC reports. From the outside, the most striking feature is the sloping stone roof, made up of 36,000 fitted pieces, which seems to rise from the water of the fjord.

The Norwegian parliament's decision to approve its construction in 1999 ended more than 120 years of debate and waiting for a national opera house. The opera house is the largest cultural center built in Norway in 700 years.

Well, it is not exactly as photogenic as the Sydney Opera House, but maybe the photo doesn't do it justice.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Europe, Norway