Individual Landmarks Trivia

1. What is the Istana Besar in Johor Bahru, Malaysia?

From Quiz The Buildings of Johor Bahru

Answer: Johor Sultan's royal palace

The Istana Besar, or Grand palace, is in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Johor is one of 13 states in Malaysia. It is also a constitutional monarchy with the Sultan being the head. Istana Besar is a royal palace of Johor's Sultan. The palace is used for official royal functions and ceremonies. PR's Red Crew member Jaknginger likes to think she is the "queen" of her domicile.

From Quiz Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower

Answer: Benjamin Hall, the first Commissioner for Public Works

It has been argued that Big Ben might have been named after the boxer, who was also had that nickname. However Benjamin Hall's seems much more likely as he was the overall supervisor of the project and his name was inscribed on the bell when it was cast. Disraeli was alive at that time but not given the honour, while Franklin had died some 70 years earlier and was in any case American.

From Quiz The Grandeur of Great Zimbabwe

Answer: Shona

Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986, Great Zimbabwe National Monument is located near the city of Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria), in the south-eastern part of Zimbabwe. The country, previously known as Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia, adopted the name of Zimbabwe on 1 June 1979, a year before it became officially independent. Though Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, Shona - one of the many languages in the Bantu family - is spoken by about 70% of the country's population. The Shona people have lived for centuries in the region of Southern Africa where Great Zimbabwe is located. The site's name is widely believed to be a contraction of "dzimba-dza-mabwe", meaning "houses of stone" - from the Shona "dzimba" (houses) and "mabwe" (stones). However, Zimbabwean archaeologist Peter Garlake (the author of the definitive textbook on the site) interpreted the name as "dzimba-hwe", meaning "venerated houses" - possibly a reference to royal houses or tombs. The "Great" was added to the site's name to distinguish it from the numerous, smaller "zimbabwes" scattered around the region. The Maasai live in Kenya and Tanzania, the Ashanti in Ghana, and the Yoruba in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa; none of these peoples are part of the Bantu family.

From Quiz Signal Hill

Answer: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's is the capital city of the easternmost province of Canada, and is the easternmost city of mainland North America, located on the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. John Cabot is thought to have entered the harbour in 1497, and the city-to-be is indicated on maps dating from before 1520. The first settlers were English fishermen, who established seasonal fishing villages. The entrance to the harbour is a very narrow, shallow channel with extremely steep rocky walls, very difficult to negotiate. Ships trying to make an entrance were fairly easy targets for defenders on the hilltops. Protection for the settlement was needed in the early days against pirate raiders; during subsequent times of war, the strategic value of St. John's made it valuable territory. The fortified site now known as Signal Hill was constructed on the north side of the Narrows, starting in the 17th century. Fort Amherst was built on the south head starting in 1763.

From Quiz Holyroodhouse

Answer: Edinburgh Castle

The Palace of Holyroodhouse was built at the base of Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano. A series of roads leads out from Holyroodhouse to Edinburgh Castle. Although it is known as the Royal Mile, the distance between the two landmarks is not actually a mile. It's roughly a Scots mile, a measurement that hasn't been used for hundreds of years, but it is longer than the mile in use today.

From Quiz The Forbidden City

Answer: Purple

"Zi jin cheng" means Purple Forbidden City. The ancient Chinese believed that the Purple Star (North Star) was in the center of the heaven. The Heavenly King lived in the Purple Palace. The Chinese Emperor was always referred as the "Son of the Heavenly King". The Forbidden City is also known as "Gu Gong Bo Wu Yuan" in Chinese.

From Quiz Quebec House - Childhood Home of James Wolfe

Answer: Kent

Quebec House is in the picturesque town of Westerham in Kent. Kent is sometimes called the "Garden of England" because of its mild climate, which is ideal for fruit growing.

From Quiz A Tour Through Biltmore Estate

Answer: Approach Road

George Vanderbilt constructed Biltmore Village to accommodate his many workers. The Village originally contained a church, a hospital, a school, and a post office.

From Quiz Babbling Brook Building

Answer: Kaufmann

Liliane and Edgar Kaufmann, Sr., owners of Kaufmann's Department store, had corresponded with Wright for many years. It wasn't until their son, Robert Kaufmann, jr. (this is not a typo, but the way he preferred his name), had apprenticed at Taliesin that the opportunity arose for Wright to recommend building the Kaufmann's a summer house. The Kaufmanns already owned property and a summer house at Bear Run, and when it needed replacing, they commissioned Wright.

From Quiz Mont-Saint-Michel, The Mount of Marvels

Answer: Italy

Monte Gargano is situated on the Gargano promontory in the southern Italian province of Foggia which extends into the Adriatic Sea. The coastal areas of Gargano are rich in fine beaches and are consequently popular with tourists. The highest point at 1,065m is Monte Calvo. Most of Gargano's upland areas fall within the Gargano National Park which was founded in 1991.

From Quiz Tastes Like Chichen (Itza)

Answer: Mouth of the Well of the Itza

This site is located in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, and is only 75 miles away from Merida, the capital of the state. It is called that because there is a water source inside the site.

From Quiz Big Ben: London's Invisible Landmark

Answer: 2.9 metres in diameter

This is a slightly more subtle way of asking the age old question, "what exactly is Big Ben?" The answer is not the 96.3 metres tall clock tower nor the clock itself with its 7 metres diameter clock face, situated 55 metres above ground. It is the bell within the tower that chimes the hours. The bell's official name is "The Great Bell", it weighs over 13 tonnes and is 2.2 metres tall. The clock tower, which is often referred to as "Big Ben", is simply called "The Clock Tower".

From Quiz Taj Mahal

Answer: Agra

Agra is on the Yamuna River, in the northern part of India. About two to four million people visit the Taj Mahal every year.

From Quiz The Roman Coliseum

Answer: Vespasian

Another name for the Coliseum is the "Flavian Ampitheatre", named after Vespasian Flavian. Work on the Coliseum began during Vespasian's reign around 70 AD and was completed while Titus was emperor.

From Quiz Graceland: Home of the King

Answer: Memphis, Tennessee

Graceland is located on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee. It has many fascinating items from Elvis's personal life, and it is an excellent historical trip for everyone, not just Elvis fans.

From Quiz The Famous 'Hollywood' Sign

Answer: 1923

Hollywoodland was booming with up-coming stars and entertainers and they wanted to bring the spotlight there, so in 1923, the Hollywoodland Real Estate Group unleashed a gigantic promotion.

From Quiz Mysterious Machu Picchu

Answer: Peru

It is situated about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the town of Cusco. Cusco was the old imperial Inca capital, which was both the administrative and the religious center of the empire.

From Quiz The Buildings of Johor Bahru

Answer: 19th

Sultan Abu Bakar, who ruled 1862 to 1895 was the first to be buried at the Mausoleum. Some of the founders of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) were also honored by being buried in the Mausoleum. The complex has a mixture of architectural styles, including Malay and Moorish. Player pusdoc has been buried under a pile of facts about Malaysia for this quiz.

From Quiz Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower

Answer: Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London, UK

It was the largest bell in the U.K. until superseded 20 years later by "Great Paul" hung in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Whitechapel company closed in 2017 after more than 400 years in business. It cast many other famous bells during its existence, including America's "Liberty Bell". Taylor's now claims to be the world's largest company operating in its field, and also purports to trace its history back to the 14th century. Warner's was also a London bell making enterprise that survived from the late 1700s to the mid 1920s. The McShane company during its lifetime has to date made more than 300,00 bells for buildings across the globe. .

From Quiz The Grandeur of Great Zimbabwe

Answer: Portugal

In the early 16th century, Portugal already had established a substantial presence in Southern Africa, especially on the east coast (what is now Mozambique). Traders and prospectors travelling to the interior in search of gold came across Great Zimbabwe's majestic remains, and left written records of their experience. The very first visit to the site by a European may have occurred in 1513-15, when explorer (and former convict) António Fernandes wrote about some of the settlements he found during his travels through the region, mentioning buildings with similar features to those of Great Zimbabwe. The first to leave a detailed description of the site, however, was Vicente Pegado, the captain of the Portuguese garrison stationed at the port of Sofala, on the coast of the Indian Ocean; in 1531, Pegado recorded the city's name as "Symbao", which he translated as "royal court". At that time, Great Zimbabwe had already been abandoned. The site was forgotten until 1867, when it was rediscovered by Adam Render, a German-American hunter and trader, who shared his find with German explorer Karl Mauch. The latter, who had been searching for the legendary Biblical city of Ophir, visited the ruins in 1871.

From Quiz Signal Hill

Answer: Ladies' Lookout

The name for this peak is supposed to have its origins in the women who would hike up there to look out for the returning ships of their menfolk. Fishing, the main industry of the area when the settlement was developing, was a dangerous trade, and one which often took men away from their families for lengthy periods of time. Anxious relatives could make their way to the top of the hill in hopes of getting a sight of returning vessels. (On the coast of New England, an architectural type developed that included a railed walkway at the bottom of a house's roof, called a widow's walk, said to have been named for the same reason.) The original name for the entire hill was simply The Lookout; now only the peak retains that word.

From Quiz The Forbidden City

Answer: 720,000

The Forbidden City (753 meters from east to west, 981 meters from north to south) covers an area of about 720,000 square meters (178 acres). It consists of 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings, and over 8700 rooms.

From Quiz Quebec House - Childhood Home of James Wolfe

Answer: Canadian

To the left of the front door visitors will see a cast iron plaque honouring Joseph Bowles Learmont of Montreal, Canada (1839 - 1914), who "for the love and admiration of WOLFE bought this house and bequeathed it to the nation".

From Quiz Chichen Itza

Answer: A sacrificial pool

Chichen Itza was built near the Cenote Sagrado, one of two cenotes or natural sinkholes that are found there. Dredging of the Cenote Sagrado yielded artifacts and human remains with wounds in keeping with ritual sacrifice. Chichen Itza when translated means "At the mouth of the well at Itza". In the Yucatan, rivers run underground and the cenotes were thought to be entrances to the underworld.

From Quiz A Tour Through Biltmore Estate

Answer: Frederick Law Olmsted

The 125,00 acres Vanderbilt purchased for his estate had been slashed and burned. Olmstead suggested landscaping only 200 hundred acres and turning the rest into forests and farmland. This was part of the early land conservation movement in America.

From Quiz Babbling Brook Building

Answer: Bear Run, tributary of the Youghiogheny River

Wright visited the site in December, 1934, and a survey was commissioned. The original plans were presented to Kaufmann, Sr., during an unplanned visit to Taliesin. The story told is that Kaufmann called from Milwaukee in September, 1935, where he was conducting other business, and said that he'd like to view the plans for the new summer house. While Kaufmann drove from Milwaukee to Taliesin, Wright busily began drawing and then presented them to Kaufmann when he arrived. Though the Kaufmann's original thoughts had been to build a summer house with a view of the waterfalls, Wright built the structure above it.

From Quiz Tastes Like Chichen (Itza)

Answer: Maya and Maya-Toltec Periods

The Maya period was built between 7th and 10th centuries A.D. while the Maya-Toltec period was built between the 10th and the 13th centuries A.D.

From Quiz Taj Mahal

Answer: Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan built the Taj as a mausoleum for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum. She was known as Mumtaz Mahal, which means "beloved ornament of the palace". She was Shah Jahan's third and favorite wife.

From Quiz The Famous 'Hollywood' Sign

Answer: $21,000

To promote the property, they spent $21,000 to erect the biggest and greatest sign on the side of the mountain, Mt. Cahuenga.

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Last Updated Oct 18 2025 5:46 AM

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