Q 01/05

Which river, Europe's second-longest, passes through or borders ten countries between Germany and its delta?

A) Dnieper

B) Danube

C) Oder

D) Volga

Answer · why

B) Danube

The Danube also runs through four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. For centuries it also marked a frontier of ancient Rome.

Q 02/05

Which composer's heart was smuggled into Poland by his sister after his death in Paris in 1849?

A) Franz Liszt

B) Ignacy Paderewski

C) Frédéric Chopin

D) Hector Berlioz

Answer · why

C) Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin asked that his heart go home, so it was carried past border guards in a jar of alcohol, probably cognac. It was later sealed inside a ...

Q 03/05

Poland's Wieliczka mine, with chapels carved underground by its miners, produced which mineral until 1996?

A) Salt

B) Coal

C) Silver

D) Copper

Answer · why

A) Salt

Salt was dug at Wieliczka for some 700 years, and the mine joined UNESCO's very first World Heritage list in 1978. Even its statues are carved from th...

Q 04/05

The CH on Swiss car stickers and web addresses abbreviates Switzerland's formal name in which language?

A) German

B) French

C) Italian

D) Latin

Answer · why

D) Latin

Latin supplies the formal name Confoederatio Helvetica, recalling the Helvetii, a Gaulish tribe that once lived on the Swiss plateau. It has appeared ...

Q 05/05

Which Bavarian castle, built for King Ludwig II, inspired Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland?

A) Hohenzollern

B) Neuschwanstein

C) Hohenschwangau

D) Wartburg

Answer · why

B) Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein was meant as the king's private retreat, yet it opened to paying visitors within six weeks of his death in 1886.