Moscow Mule Trivia Quiz

Answer: Peter I

Peter the Great despised Moscow. He was obsessed with westernising Russia and gaining a coastline on the Baltic Sea and so in 1703, in the midst of the Great Northern War against Sweden, Peter founded a new city on the Baltic, St Petersburg, and moved his capital there.

Despite Peter's hatred for Moscow and its distance from the sea, Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov had a maritime-themed statue of Peter erected on the banks of the Moskva.

Answer: 1918

In 1918, in the midst of the Russian Civil War, Lenin moved the Russian capital back to Moscow out of fears for the safety of Petrograd (as St Petersburg was renamed in 1914).

Answer: Moskva

The Moskva flows into the Oka river which is in turn a tributary of the Volga, Europe's longest river, which discharges into the Caspian Sea.

Answer: St Basil's Cathedral

St Basil's was commissioned by Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) to commemorate his victory over the Tatars at Kazan. It was completed in 1561.

Legend has it that Ivan had the architects blinded so that they could never again create anything so beautiful.

The other options can all be found within the Kremlin grounds.

Answer: The French

Having conquered much of Europe and forced the leaders of much of the rest to follow his lead, Emperor Napoleon of France embarked on an invasion of Russia. It was a disastrous mistake. Beaten back by the onset of the Russian winter, Napoleon left Russia with only a fraction of the 600,000 soldiers who had invaded with him.

After that the tide of the Napoleonic Wars began to turn against him.

Answer: 1980

These games were boycotted by the USA in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Moscow was a candidate city for the 2012 Olympic Games but lost out to London.

Answer: True

Derived from the word for 'fortress', many towns in mediaeval Russia had a kremlin. However, it is the Moscow Kremlin which has become world famous.

In mediaeval Russia it was the seat of both tsarist and religious authority until Peter the Great decamped to St Petersburg. The Kremlin became the centre of Soviet power when the capital was moved back to Moscow. When the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 the Kremlin remained the seat of power for the Russian president.

As well as the president's offices and official residence the Kremlin today houses a number of museums and beautifully maintained cathedrals.

Answer: V.I. Lenin

Lenin's body was embalmed following his death in 1924 and has been on public display in his Mausoleum in Red Square ever since. The Mausoleum remains a popular visitor attraction. Yuri Gagarin's ashes are buried in the walls of the Kremlin in Red Square so you could pay him a quick visit as well.

Answer: prison

There was certainly nothing amusing about the Lubyanka (or Lubianka). It was the headquarters of the infamous NKVD, the Soviet secret police, and its successor organisation, the KGB. It also served as a prison and many thousands of people were tortured or murdered within its walls.

Answer: Red Star

Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow were both founded in 1922 with Lokomotiv Moscow coming along the following year. Other Moscow football teams include CSKA Moscow, Torpedo Moscow and FC Moscow.