In 1958,a year after the Danish architect won the international competition for his Opera House design,Utzon requested the tapestry from the renowned Swiss-French architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris,better known as Le Corbusier.
But in 1966,a year after Le Corbusier's death,Utzon quit the Opera House project in disgust at the penny-pinching state government. The tapestry,like so much of Utzon's dream,never made it into the building,opened in 1973.
It hung instead on Utzon's own wall and,in 1960,he wrote to tell Le Corbusier:"It has endowed our home with a beauty so exquisite that I am at a loss for the proper words to describe our feelings about it."
But on Tuesday this week,almost seven years after Utzon's death,his art collection and personal effects were auctioned in Copenhagen.
Pre-auction publicity suggested the tapestry,the most prized item,would sell for up to $US120,000 ($148,000). But the hammer price was 280,000 euros (almost $413,000 on the day).
Money donated by philanthropists made the purchase possible,said the Opera House chief executive officer Louise Herron,who called it a vital piece of heritage.