The Spanish Connection Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Prado

All of the answers are great national European art museums, with the Prado being Spain's. Each of these museums contains many masterpieces. Highlights inside the Prado include "Las Meninas" by Velazquez, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch, and "The Third of May" by Goya.

The Louvre is France's national art museum, the Hermitage is Russia's, and the National Gallery is the United Kingdom's.

Answer: the Alhambra

The Alhambra was the royal palace of the Sultans of Granada, who ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1238-1492. This was the last country ruled by Muslims in continental Europe, and so it accumulated a lot of Arabic and Islamic art in the process. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada in 1492 in their mission to rid the Iberian peninsula of non-Christian kingdoms. By the early 1600s, all Muslims had been evicted from Spain or forcibly converted to Christianity.

The Alhambra itself is famous for its beautiful inscriptions and architecture. The Courtyard of the Lions features a fountain supported by twelve lions carved from white marble.

Answer: the Mezquita

The Mezquita of Cordoba, also known as the Great Mosque of Cordoba, is highly unusual in that it's a mosque-cathedral. Walking among the pillars, it feels like an ancient temple with its red-and-white striped stones, and then one stumbles upon the far more sophisticated cathedral inside.

Cordoba was the capital of Moorish Spain and historians estimate that it was the most populous city in the world in the 10th century -- bigger than equivalent cities in China, Byzantium, and the Americas.

All of the other buildings mentioned are also famous temples, but only the Mezquita is in Cordoba.

Answer: Sagrada Familia

Gaudi architected many buildings in Barcelona, but the Sagrada Familia is his masterpiece. It is probably the most unusually designed cathedral in the world -- it has to be seen to be appreciated for its mix of Gothic, grotesque, and modern styles. The cathedral was begun in 1882.

When people complained about how long the cathedral was taking to build, Gaudi supposedly said "My client is not in a hurry." He died in 1926 when hit by a streetcar, over 40 years after construction began. The cathedral is still not yet finished, although the end looks near.

It is complete enough for tourists to go inside and see many of the decorations, and Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it in 2010.

Answer: Toledo

Toledo is a walled city with narrow, twisting streets perched on top of a mountain, which can be seen in El Greco's brooding "View of Toledo", which hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. It's not clear if the city of Toledo in Ohio was named after the one in Spain. El Greco was born in Crete, but moved to Toledo late in life to start a workshop there.

A museum dedicated to El Greco resides there, along with his masterpiece "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz". Toledo is also famous for its steel -- many fine weapons, including those used by Roman legions, were forged there.

Answer: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Spain in 1904, and subsequently gained world-wide fame for his fantastic, bizarre art. His magnum opus is probably "The Persistence of Memory", which shows pocket watches melting in a landscape. He also worked in film, with his most famous contribution being the famous dream sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" (1944). Unlike many artists, Dali was a financial success and spent large amounts of money late in life to buy back many of his works and store them in a museum in his birthplace. Upon his death in 1989, he was buried in a crypt inside the museum.

Answer: an aqueduct

Segovia is one of the provincial capitals of Castile, the region that brought Isabella to the throne of Spain. Tourists can see the well-preserved aqueduct, which was supplying water to residents all the way up to the mid-19th century. Segovia also has a grand cathedral and picturesque palace and is well worth a day trip from Madrid.

Answer: El Escorial

Charles I of Spain is also known as Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. He was arguably the most powerful man of his era, as he inherited Spain from his mother and the Holy Roman Empire from his father. No one since has been in charge of both areas at the same time. Charles's son, Philip II (of Spanish Armada fame) decided to use the gold coming in from the New World to build a grand palace / monastery to emphasize Spain's dominance of the Christian world.

The most striking feature of the castle is the "Pantheon of the Kings" where one can see the sepulchers of almost every Spanish king and queen of the past five centuries.

Answer: Guernica

All of these paintings by Picasso have an anti-war message, but Guernica, which is regarded as his masterpiece, is the only one which resides in his native Spain. It was painted in response to a bombing of the Spanish town Guernica by German and Italian planes to help the Spanish Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Soldiers were not stationed there, so most of the deaths were of women and children. Outraged, Picasso set out to capture the suffering on canvas and brought the world's attention to the atrocities being committed.

It is still a powerful reminder of the evils of war.

Answer: Seville

Seville is the 4th largest city of Spain (behind Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia) and it contains much of interest to the discerning tourist. The Real Alcazar is a palace built during Moorish times that rivals the Alhambra for its beauty, and it is the oldest European palace still in use.

The popular TV series "Game of Thrones" uses the gardens of the Real Alcazar to simulate its land of Dorne, full of hot-blooded people who like to fight (and enjoy life).