On a planet more than 70 per cent covered in water, it’s hardly surprising that there are more than a few famous water features dotted across the globe. Between natural wonders and man-made marvels, just how well do you know the world’s most famous ponds, fountains and waterfalls?
If you’ve ever wondered, here’s a quick quiz to give you a chance to find out; the answers are at the bottom – so good luck!
- a) The design incorporates the remains of an 18th Century Prison
- b) It’s a World Heritage Site
- c) It’s owned by the Queen
- a) Giverny
- b) Paris
- c) Avignon
- a) Paris
- b) Rome
- c) Geneva
- a) Trevi
- b) Archibald
- c) Bellagio
- a) Kyoto
- b) Tokyo
- c) Hokkaido
- a) It comes from the native word for a waterfall – “ah-nyellho”
- b) After an American pilot
- c) A vision of an angel appeared there
- a) An artificial pond for watering livestock
- b) An artificial pond for raising fish
- c) A natural pond which is filled entirely by the morning dew
- a) The Water Lily Pond
- b) The Palm House Pond
- c) The Lake
- a) It is a National Historic Landmark and arguably the birthplace of American conservation
- b) It is where Lee Harvey Oswald planned his assassination of President Kennedy
- c) It holds the world biodiversity record for a pond
- a) Queen Victoria’s Head Water Gardener, who never missed a day’s work in his life.
- b) A geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
- c) A particularly reliable type of water pump used by landscape architect Capability Brown.
1. What is special about Studley Royal Water Garden in North Yorkshire?
2. Where did Claude Monet build the pond that inspired his famous water-lily paintings?
3. Where is the Jet d’Eau fountain ?
4. Which fountain famously features in the film “La Dolce Vita”? ?
5. The Silver Pavilion, also known as Jishoji or Ginkakuji is one of Japan’s most famous water gardens – but where is it?
6. Why is Venezuela’s Angel Falls – the highest waterfall in the world – so named?
7. In 2008, villagers in Ashmore, Dorset launched an appeal to save their famous 1,000 year old Saxon dew pond – but what exactly is a dew pond? ?
8. Which of the water features at Kew Gardens did Camille Pissaro famously paint in the early 1890s?
9. What makes Walden Pond in Massachusetts special?
10. Who or What is Old Faithful?
Answers
1. (b) Studley Royal Water Garden is a World Heritage Site; the design incorporates the remains of a 12th Century Abbey and it’s owned by the National Trust.
2. (a) Giverny; Monet moved from Paris to Giverny in 1883, where he painted his water-lily series between 1901 and 1925.
3. (c) The Jet d’Eau is sited where Lake Geneva runs into the River Rhone.
4. (a) Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni were standing in Rome’s Trevi Fountain in the 1960 film “La Dolce Vita.” The Archibald is in Sydney and the Bellagio is in Las Vegas.
5. (a) The stunning Silver Pavilion is in Kyoto.
6. (b) Although at 2,640 feet, it might looks as if it reaches up to heaven, the “angel” in the name is the American pilot, James “Jimmy” Angel, who crash-landed his plane at the top in 1937.
7. (a) A dew pond is an artificial pond for watering livestock – and despite the name, it’s mostly filled by rainwater.
8. (b) Pissaro’s famous painting of Kew’s Palm House Pond dates from around 1892.
9. (a) It is a National Historic Landmark and, since it featured in American naturalist Henry David Thoreau’s ground-breaking essay of 1854 “Walden; or, Life in the Woods,” many regard it as the birthplace of the American conservation movement.
10. (b) Old Faithful is a geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, named after the reliability of its eruptions which shoot boiling water around 150 feet into the air and can last for up to five minutes. The word “geyser” comes from Geysir in Iceland – the first geyser to be discovered by Europeans; have a bonus point if you knew that already!.
How Did You Do?
- 11 – Famously featured!
- 7 to 10 – Pretty pond-wise
- 4 to 6 – Keeping your head above water
- 0 to 3 – A bit bogged down
