BA - The Club - Travel quiz: can you guess the missing landmark?

Missing landmark #1

What am I? This obelisk on the National Mall in the USA’s seat of government was built to commemorate the first President of the United States. An engineering marvel, its marble blocks are held together only by gravity and friction. Standing at 170 metres, it was the tallest building in the world on its completion in 1884. The original elevator ride to the top took 20 minutes, but only men were allowed to use it as it was considered unsafe. Women and children had to climb all 897 stairs.

Figured it out? Pick out its 14th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #2

What am I? This gothic beauty is attached to one of Britain’s greatest seats of learning. It’s famous for its soaring spires and an angelic choir that raises the roof at daily Evensong – and broadcasts its Christmas carol service to the world. Part of the institution founded by Henry VI in 1441 to promote his love of education, religion and research, it’s inspired no less than Horace Walpole, John Maynard Keynes, EM Forster, Helena Bonham Carter, David Baddiel, Zadie Smith and George the Poet.

Figured it out? Pick out its 6th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #3

What am I? Legend has it that if lovers kiss under this bridge at sunset while sitting in a gondola, then they will enjoy eternal love and happiness – and many believe it takes its name from the deep exhalations of love-struck couples. The truth is a little more disturbing. Built around 1602, the bridge connected two prisons, and its name alludes to the despairing moans of crossing convicts, aware that they were probably seeing the most romantic city on earth for the last time…

Figured it out? Pick out its 7th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #4

What am I? Opened in 1889 as the centrepiece of the World’s Fair in France, this steel structure so horrified leading artists and intellectuals of the time that they sent a petition to the government calling it ‘useless and monstrous’. In fact, the 300-metre edifice was originally intended to stand for just 20 years before being dismantled, but its value as a wireless telegraph transmitter guaranteed its immortality. Today, it welcomes around seven million visitors in a normal year.

Figured it out? Pick out its 1st letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #5

What am I? This performing arts centre opened in 1973 on a famous harbour in Australia and is one of the 20th century’s most iconic buildings. Constructed of sail-like shells, it’s 183 metres tall and 120 metres wide and supported on 580 concrete piers sunk 25 metres below sea level. In 1997, French urban climber, Alain ‘Spiderman’ Robert scaled its exterior wall all the way to the top using only his bare hands and feet, and it had a starring role in the 2000 Olympics.

Figured it out? Pick out its 7th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #6

What am I? This Italian bell tower has rather an unusual angle. Built on soft, unstable foundations, its construction began in the 12th century and took 199 years to complete. To compensate for its tilt, engineers built upper levels with one side taller than the other, hence its curved appearance. Considered by the Allies to be too beautiful to be destroyed during WWII, the tower has undergone many corrective measures and, in 2008, engineers finally declared it would be stable for a least two centuries.

Figured it out? Pick out its 17th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #7

What am I? A gift from France to the USA as a symbol of freedom, this spectacular edifice has watched over the Hudson river since 1886. The 93-metre robed female figure, modelled on the mother of its sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, holds a torch and tablet inscribed with the date of American Declaration of Independence (4 July, 1776). Her crown has seven spikes – representing the seven oceans and seven continents of the world – and 25 windows. You’ll have to hike up 542 stairs to look out of one, though.

Figured it out? Pick out its 9th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #8

What am I? The tallest Art Deco statue in the world, this spiritual giant stands on a mountain top (making it prone to lightning strikes) and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It took $250,000 and nine years to complete – in 1931 – and consists of reinforced concrete and an outer shell of six million soapstone tiles. Created as a symbol to counteract what its South American hosts saw as increasing ‘godlessness’ among its people, it receives around two million visitors a year.

Figured it out? Pick out its 15th letter for the landmark anagram

Missing landmark #9

What am I? This vast place of worship is famous for its onion-shaped domes and colourful brickwork. Built by order of Ivan the Terrible in 1561 to celebrate victory in battle, it’s said that the Tsar ordered that its architects be blinded after they completed their work so that they could not replicate its beauty elsewhere. Consisting of nine churches and a maze of highly decorative interior galleries, it has withstood multiple foreign plots and political demolition orders to become a magnificent World Heritage Site.

Figured it out? Pick out its 1st letter for the landmark anagram

Travel quiz: can you guess the missing landmark?

Missing landmark #1

Missing landmark #2

Missing landmark #3

Missing landmark #4

Missing landmark #5

Missing landmark #6

Missing landmark #7

Missing landmark #8

Missing landmark #9

Missing landmark #1

Missing landmark #2

Missing landmark #3

Missing landmark #4

Missing landmark #5

Missing landmark #6

Missing landmark #7

Missing landmark #8

Missing landmark #9

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