Quiz on seats of power

Given the events in Washington DC on January 6, this week’s quiz is all about buildings that house or housed seats of power.

On the house

1 Before the events of January 6, 2021, when was the last time that the Capitol was attacked and actually captured by a foreign power?

2 Which national parliament was designed by American architect Louis Kahn, the same person who designed IIM Ahmedabad? Construction started in the early 1960s but was only completed in 1982?

3 If the American Senate meets at the Capitol, in which building do both the British Houses of Parliament meet?

4 Which residence of the French ruler between 1682 and 1789 is currently a UN World Heritage Site and had witnessed the signing of the Peace of Paris in 1783 and the treaty at the end of World War I?

5 A mysterious fire on which State building on February 27, 1933, gave a pretext for the chancellor of the country to suspend most civil liberties and start a large-scale government crackdown on the national communist movement?

6 Between September and October 1812, which historic European seat of power was occupied by Napoleon’s French forces who tried to burn it to the ground before they had to retreat?

7 In which Asian country does the legislature and the National People’s Congress meet in a building known as the Great Hall of The People?

8 If the Red Fort is a historic structure in New Delhi, in which other cricket-playing nation would you come across the Red House, the seat of government in a Caribbean country?

9 The Cabinet of India currently operates from the Central Secretariat building, designed by British architect Herbert Baker, who incorporated traditional Rajasthani and Mughal elements in the design. What is the name for the architectural style also seen in buildings such as the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai and the Madras High Court?

10 Which Asian parliament was completed in 1936 and is said to resemble the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which was one of the Ancient Wonders of the World?

Answers

1 1814, by the British troops, during the War of 1812. They also burnt the White House.

2 Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban or National Parliament House, Dhaka.

3 The Palace of Westminster, on the North Bank of the Thames.

4 The Palace of Versailles.

5 The Reichstag in Berlin.

6 The Kremlin in Moscow, most of the renovation was completed between 1816 and 1819.

7 China; the building is on the western edge of Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

8 Trinidad & Tobago. The Red House is in the Port of Spain.

9 Indo-Saracenic.

10 The Diet in Japan.

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster;

Twitter: @joybhattacharj