Where Am I? Match Quiz

Answer: London

Ben Ben is one of the most iconic landmarks in England. While many people refer to the whole edifice as Big Ben, strictly speaking only one of the five bells in the tower is Big Ben. This, the largest bell, weighs a staggering 15.1 tons. The whole building was completed in 1859. While the biggest bell was called Big Ben, the tower which contains the clock was called (rather unsurprisingly) the Clock Tower. However, in 2012, the tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II in the year of her Diamond Jubilee.

The clock, when it was created, was the world's largest and most accurate four-faced striking-and-chiming clock. To give you an idea of how big the clock is, the minute hands are 4.3m (14 feet) long. The tower itself is 316 feet (96 m) tall, and should you decide to pop up to the top, you'll have to walk up 334 steps to get to the belfry. What many might not know is that all four of the nations of the UK are represented on the tower. These are depicted as symbols on shields: a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland, a shamrock for Ireland, and of course, a leek for Wales.

Answer: Agra

The Taj Mahal covers 42 acres and is located on the banks of the Yamuna river in Agra, India. Made as a burial site, the Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1631 by Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Mumtaz was much loved by her husband, and she in fact died in 1631 bearing one of his 14 children. Her cause of death was apparently from postpartum haemorrhage: she was just 38 years old. Such was her husband's grief at Mumtaz's death that he apparently went into solitary mourning for a year. It is said that when he reappeared, his hair had turned white, his face was haggard and worn and his back was bent.

Originally buried at Burhanpur, Mumtaz was relocated to the Taj Mahal when it was completed in 1653, which was 22 years after her death. Interestingly, Shah died in 1666 in Agra Fort where he had been imprisoned by his third son, Aurangzeb for eight years. Aurangzeb had essentially usurped his father to become the sixth emperor in 1658. Even though relations between father and son clearly weren't great, and Aurangze denied Shah a state funeral, he must have had some comprehension of his parents' love for each other, as Shah was buried next to his beloved wife, Mumtaz, in a crypt in the Taj Mahal.

Answer: Rome

The Trevi Fountain is in Rome, Italy. This baroque fountain has an interesting history. There has been a fountain on this site since Roman times, since fountains were the main source of water for the citizens of Rome. However in 1629, Pope Urban VIII decided he wanted a fountain on the site which showed significantly more grandeur. He therefore asked Gian Bernini to sketch some renovations, which Bernini happily did. Unfortunately Pope Urban died in 1644 and so the project was abandoned.

Nearly a century later, in 1730, Pope Clement XII held a competition for the design of the fountain. Originally Alessandro Galilei won the commission, but after a public outcry an architect called Nicola Salvi won the rights to design the fountain. (The outcry was because Salvi was a native Roman, whereas Galilei was a Florentine.) Sadly, Salvi didn't see the project completed as he died in 1751, 11 years before the fountain was completed. It was therefore left to Giuseppe Pannini to complete the 30-year project, which was finished in 1762. Having said that, Salvi & Pannini took care to add many touches from the original designer, Bernini, to the Trevi Fountain.

The fountain is an impressive sight. It stands 85ft tall, is almost 65ft wide and has water pumped from multiple sources. The large, famous pool in the front spills nearly 2,824,800 cubic feet of recycled water every day.

It probably won't surprise you to know that when the fountain is open, around 3,000 Euros are tossed into it each day. Visitors throw coins into the fountain based on the legend that if you throw one in, you will return to Rome. (I've been three times, so maybe it is true!) All coins collected are given to charity and it is illegal to take coins from the fountain, though many try - the fountain is literally a font of wealth.

The fountain is located in the centre of three streets - De 'Crocicchi Street, Poli Street and Delle Muratte Street - and was called the Trevi Fountain because of this location. Trevi (Latin Trivium) means 'intersection of three streets'. The fountain, incidentally, is made mostly from Travertine stone, which is quarried around Trivoli, about 35k's from Rome.

Answer: Cambodia

Angkor Wat, or the 'City of Temples' is a complex in Cambodia that is believed to be the largest religious monument in the world. Sitting on 162.6 hectares (or 402 acres) it is surrounded by a huge moat which measures 5klm long, 200m wide and 4m deep. The construction of Angkor Wat, originally a Hindu temple, took around 30 years, starting in 1122 CE. It was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II, as his state temple and capital city. However after his death, it fell into the hands of the traditional enemies of the Khmer, the Chams, and became a Buddist temple.

Situated 5.5 kilometres north of the town Siem Reap in north-western Cambodia, the temple took an estimated 300,000 labourers and 1000 elephants to build, used five million tonnes of sandstone (more than all the Egyptian pyramids combined) and no machinery was used in its construction.(Primarily because there was no machinery at this time.)

The Cambodians are so proud of Angkor Wat that they put the monument on their flag and their national currency. More than two million people visit Angkor Wat a year, and, in fact, this monument is responsible for attracting fifty percent of Cambodia's foreign tourists.

Angkor Wat is still used today as a active Buddist temple.

Answer: Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire

Stonehenge, which is located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, is a prehistoric monument that was constructed over 5,000 years ago. To this day, Stonehenge, which attracts over 800,000 tourists per year, is considered to be the most architecturally-sophisticated stone circle in the world. Having said this, it is not the biggest: this honour goes to Avebury, which is about 23 miles from Stonehenge. Stonehenge is essentially a circle of vertical sarsen (silicified sandstone) standing-stones, many with connecting horizontal lintel stones. For years, many theories have been put forward regarding the original purpose of Stonehenge. However, no-one was able to put forward a conclusive theory; until now, that is.

New evidence uncovered in 2022 points to Stonehenge essentially being a ginormous solar calendar. Historians believe this stone calendar was based on a solar year of 365.25 days, and that the stones allowed people in the community to keep track not only of days, but of weeks and months. Scientists apparently discovered this when they started looking at, and comparing, ancient Eygptian monuments.

It is believed the structure took between 1000-1500 years to construct and was still never fully completed. Because of this, it is not known who initiated it, or built it.

It is also not known how the stones were transported to Stonehenge from their native location in the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales. This would have been a feat for anybody, let alone a civilisation that existed 5,000 years ago: it is a distance of over 180 miles, and some of the stones weigh 25 tons each. There are 83 stones in all at Stonehenge, some in an inner-circle and some in an outer-circle. Each of the outer-circle stones stands around 13 feet high, and is seven feet wide.

Answer: Istanbul

The Hagia Sophia is a domed monument in Istanbul, Turkey. (Hagia Sophia, by the way, means 'holy wisdom.') There have actually been three Hagia Sophia structures on the site. The first was built in 360 A.D when Istanbul was still known as Constantinople, and it had a wooden roof. Unfortunately the entire structure burnt to the ground in 404 A.D, so a new structure was built in 415 A.D., also with a wooden roof. This also burnt down and was demolished in 532 A.D.

The third Hagia Sophia, completed in 537 A.D and commissioned by Emperor Justinian I, is the one you can see today. This huge cathedral-like structure was a church for the first 1,000-odd years of its existence, a mosque for the next 500 years (from 1453) and became a museum in 1934. In 2007 a campaign was lobbied to make it a church again by a Greek-American politician. At the same time, others campaigned for it to be a mosque again. In 2016 it reverted to being a mosque.

The Hagia Sophia is a prototypical example of Byzantine architecture and was once the largest cathedral in the world. Its style influenced the construction of many religious buildings around the world. It is an impressive 55.6 metres high and 31.24 metres wide. While it features small domes, minarets, arcades, huge arches, pillars of marble, and mosaics made of glass, stone, ceramics, and gold leaf, it is the massive central dome that appears to float that is its most recognised feature. On average the Hagia Sophia welcomes between three and five million visitors annually. Although it is a mosque, people of all religious persuasions are able to visit it and entry is free.

Answer: Peru

Machu Picchu is the most visited site in Peru, but because of a limit of 2,500 visitors per day, it only sees around 750,000 annual visitors. It stands roughly 7,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains. Machu Picchu was built around 1450AD, and is an important historical Incan city. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, in 2007 it became one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Although it has been described as the 'lost Incas city,' Machu Picchu was not really 'lost' as people living in the area knew it was there. What did happen is that in 1911 a American explorer named Hiram Bingham went looking for the lost city of Vilcabamba, but instead found Machu Picchu. (Vilcabamba, by the way, is thought to be somewhere in the jungle a few miles away from Machu Picchu.)
Luckily Bingham put the site on the map for the rest of us to enjoy.

The purpose of Machu Picchu is another of life's little mysteries, with many hypotheses having been put forward. The most likely are that it was either a royal estate for Inca emperors and nobles, or a religious site. One of the most amazing features of Machu Picchu is that the 150-odd buildings were constructed with stones that were put together without mortar, and are so tightly packed you cannot even fit a knife blade between them. The Incas were clearly master architects/builders: they built the city on a location that receives up to 80 inches of rain annually, lies on an active fault line (so is earthquake prone), and it sits atop very steep, landslide-prone slopes. Even more incredible is the fact that they built the city without the use of wheels, iron, or steel and didn't even have a written language.

To preserve the 600 terraces, and 150 plus buildings, including Temples and guardhouses, the area above Machu Picchu has been designated a no-fly zone by the Peruvian State.

Answer: Giza

The Great Sphinx of Giza, a statue with the head of a pharaoh and the body of a lion, is located in Egypt and is one of the largest and oldest statues in the world. Facing the sunrise, it guards the pyramids of Giza and is believed to have been carved around 2500 BC from one piece of limestone. In terms of this timing, the head is said to have been carved into the likeness of the Pharaoh Khafra, which has led archaeologists to believe it was built during his reign.

Although 4,500-odd years of erosion has taken its toll on the statue, it is still huge at 241 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 66 feet high. The eyes alone are 6 feet tall.

The Sphinx, which was originally called 'statue of Khepi' by the Egyptians, has had several names during its time. At one point in the 14th century the statue was almost entirely obscured by sand until Thutmose IV had the sand removed. This happened after he received a message from the god Horem-Akhet Khepri-Re-Atum, telling him that if he freed the Sphinx from beneath the sand, he would become the ruler. (This may have worked since he was a pharoah and consort of Nefertiti.) At this time the Sphinx also underwent some restoration and for a long time was known as Horem-Akhet. In the Medieval period, it was referred to as 'balhib' and 'bilhawby'.

The statue wasn't always beige - from residual paint, archaeologists have determined that in its heyday, the statue was painted very bright red, yellow and blue. It must have been quite the spectacle. As to the missing nose, it was once thought that Napoleon's troops shot it off with a canon in 1798 after they invaded Egypt. This was discredited however after 18th-century drawings of the Sphinx were discovered which showed the nose was missing even then.

Answer: Rio De Janeiro

Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ and is situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The creation of the statue was a joint effort by several nationalities: it was created by a French sculptor called Paul Landowski; built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa) and French engineer, Albert Caquot; and the face was sculpted by a Romanian called Gheorghe Leonida.

The statue was completed in 1931 after taking nine years to construct, and stands 30 metres (98 ft) tall, even without its 8-metre (26 ft) pedestal. The arms stretch an amazing 28 metres (92 ft) wide. Christ the Redeemer is made of both reinforced concrete and soapstone, which is a metamorphic rock that consists primarily of talc. The soapstone is in the form of tiles, of which there are 6 million forming the outer shell. Christ the Redeemer weighs a staggering 635 metric tons, and is located in the Tijuca National Park, at the peak of the Corcovado mountain.

The statue was proposed by The Catholic Circle of Rio, who were concerned with the perceived 'godlessness' in society. It was funded by donations, most of which came from Catholic Brazilians. A symbol of Christianity around the world, the statue has been voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and has nearly two million visitors per year.

Answer: Prague

The Man Hanging Out Statue in Prague certainly isn't a world famous statue, but I thought there should be a more modern landmark included in the quiz.

Located in the Prague's Old Town, The statue was created and erected in 1996 by a Czech named David Černư. The statue, which depicts the famous Freiberg-born psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is suspended from a pole high above the ground. Černư apparently created the statue after hearing that Freud had various phobias during his life, including the exaggerated fear of his own death. For this reason, Freud is hanging on by one hand and seemingly wondering whether to let go or hang on. (Incidentally, Freud had mouth cancer at age of 83 and his personal doctor assisted his suicide by administering doses of morphine.)

Černư, who is considered a leading sculptor and a pop-culture icon, has been a non-conformist from the beginning of his art career. He gained local notoriety by painting a Soviet-era tank pink. Being as this was a 1945 war memorial in Prague which symbolized liberation, he was arrested as a hooligan for this act and was briefly detained. He has quite a number of other thought-provoking/controversial artworks dotted around Prague.

In the case of his Man Hanging Out Statue, it is often been mistaken for a real person - to the point that it has prompted calls to the city's police and fire police departments.