Remember Me: Mausoleum Edition Quiz

Answer: Khufu

The Giza Plateau in the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Memphis and its Necropolis", contains the three large Pyramids which most people associate as the 'Pyramids of Giza.'

The Pyramid of Khufu (also known as Cheops) is the largest and best preserved of the three. It was built in the early 26th century BC for the pharaoh Khufu who was the second ruler of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and yet still the one that is best preserved.

The Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) stands next to it and often appears larger because it has a steeper incline and is in an elevated position. The Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinus) is the smaller one of the three.

The other pyramid mentioned, Djedefre, is the northernmost and is mostly in ruins at Abu Rawash. It is believed to have been built for Khufu's son.

Answer: Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is located in London and is famous for its tombs and memorials. Occupants include poets, writers, scientists, actors, musicians and politicians.

The south transept has been nicknamed Poets Corner as there are so many poets and writers entombed there. Some notables included are Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, John Dryden, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling. In the 18th century, it started including memorials to writers buried elsewhere such as Shakespeare, Milton, Austen and the Bronte sisters.

Westminster Cathedral is the mother Church of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales while Westminster Abbey is an important Anglican structure.

Answer: Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist who played a crucial role in the Bolshevik seize of power in 1917. Under his administration Russia, and later the Soviet Union, became a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party.

He signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 which ended Russia's involvement in World War I so he could deal with internal issues and consolidate his power.

Lenin led the formation of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) the first state based on Marxist ideology. This laid the foundation for the later creation of the Soviet Union.

In response to the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), Lenin established the Red Army to defend the Bolshevik government against various opposition forces including the White Army and foreign interventionists.

He implemented policies such as the Land Decree, which redistributed land to the peasants and the Decree on Workers' Control which gave factory workers the right to manage and control industrial production. He also implemented a New Economic Policy that allowed for limited private enterprise and trade.

In total he was only in power for 7 years before his early death at 54 but he left a complex legacy that had both positive and negative consequences for the Soviet Union and its people.

Answer: Military

Les Invalides is a huge complex of buildings in Paris containing museums and monuments to French's military history. There are three large army museums located on the grounds which showcase a large collection of military artefacts, models and memorabilia.

It was founded in the 17th century by Louis XIV as a hospital and retirement home for war veterans. Its name literally means 'the invalids'. The complex also includes the former hospital chapel which is now the national cathedral of the French military.

What was once the former Royal Chapel is now the Dome des Invalides which is a huge, grand mausoleum. Under the enormous dome lies the magnificent tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte surrounded by a number of his family members and his grand marshals.

There are at least 93 tombs within the structure that can be identified but there are probably many more as no-one knows how many were in catacombs beneath the original site.

Napoleon actually died in exile on Saint Helena in 1821 and was buried there but his remain were repatriated back to Paris in 1840 and kept in a chapel in the Dome until his tomb was finally finished in 1861.

Answer: Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Queen Victoria became the queen of the United Kingdom when she was just 18 in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901. She was the longest reigning British monarch until her great-great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her on 9 September 2015.

Her reign, known as the Victorian Era, was marked by significant industrial, social and cultural changes.

She married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when she was 21 and they had 9 children. She married these children into royal families across Europe and was known as 'the Grandmother of Europe.' Unfortunately these daughters were all carriers of haemophilia which debilitated or killed a fair number of their male offspring.

After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria went into an extended period of mourning and mostly withdrew from the public life for the next 40 years.

The mausoleum was purpose-built for her and Albert and is located in Frogmore Gardens just south of Windsor Castle in Windsor Home Park. Their tombs lie next to each other. Other members of the royal family have also been buried here including their daughters Princess Alice and Princess Helena.

Answer: Bolivia

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author and guerrilla leader. He played a key role in the Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro in 1959 and became a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolutionary ideals.

He stayed in Cuba until the mid-1960s when he left and attempted to spread Marxist ideals throughout Africa and South America. In 1967, he was attempting to lead a guerrilla uprising in Bolivia when he was caught and eventually executed by the Bolivian military.

His burial site was kept a secret for 30 years to prevent it becoming a shrine or place of pilgrimage. In 1997, the Bolivian government revealed the location of the grave and the remains were exhumed, verified by DNA and returned to Cuba.

They were reinterred at the memorial in Santa Clara in 1997 with full military honours. The work on the memorial had begun in 1982 and it was inaugurated upon completion on 28 December 1988.

Answer: Alexandre Dumas

The Pantheon is located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St Genevieve but is now a huge mausoleum for distinguished French citizens.

It is intended to honour those who have made significant contributions to French culture including literature, science and politics. Many writers were interred there besides those mentioned but Alexandre Dumas was originally buried in the Cimetiere de Villers-Cotterets.

It has been suggested that Dumas' racial background, being of mixed-race descent with a Haitian father, subjected him to the racial biases of his time. Although it is said that the cemetery was his wish the French government had ignored the similar wishes of other internees.

In 2002, for the bicentenary of Dumas' birth, French President Jacques Chirac held a ceremony honouring the author by having his ashes reinterred in the crypt of the Pantheon.

The ceremony was huge, and the remains were transferred to a new coffin which was draped in a blue velvet cloth and carried on a caisson flanked by four mounted Republican guards dressed in full Musketeer uniforms and transported throughout Paris. 132 years after his death he was enshrined next to Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.

Answer: St Paul's Cathedral, London

The tomb in question belongs to Christopher Wren and the epitaph is basically asking you to look around the cathedral he built which sits around and above him.

Born in 1632, he was an English architect, mathematician and scientist best known for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666. Wren is considered as one of the greatest architects in English history. He is most famous for his churches - he built 51 of them throughout London, 24 of which still survive today but the greatest of course was St Paul's Cathedral.

Under the huge dome there is another memorial on the floor reading:
"Here in its foundations lies the architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91."

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln tomb is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, USA. He was originally buried in a temporary vault until completion of the monument in 1874.

The tombs burial chamber contains Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and three of their four sons Edward, William and Thomas.

The tomb is a large, neoclassical structure featuring a huge obelisk and a rectangular base. At the entrance, there is a bronze sculpture of Lincoln designed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the creator of Mount Rushmore.

The monument is full of symbolism. The exterior frieze contains all the names of the states of the Union at the time of his death and inside there are sculptures representing all the branches of the US military during the Civil War.

Lincoln's coffin has been moved around the tomb on multiple occasions because of attempted thefts or threats. It was finally encased in concrete and buried under the floor in 1901.

Answer: Hospital

The Castel Sant'Angelo (Castle of the Holy Angel) was originally the mausoleum it was intended to be. Hadrian, family members and succeeding emperors were buried there until 217 AC. The statues, urns and ashes were all scattered or destroyed by the Visigoths and the Goths when they besieged Rome.

The building is located on the right bank of the Tiber River near Vatican City, and in the beginning of the 14th century the popes converted it into a castle to protect them during invasions or other threats.

Pope Nicholas III created a covered fortified corridor that connected the castle with the Vatican. A chapel was added at a later date and state rooms. It was also used as a prison by the Papal States and executions were even performed in the courtyard.

The prison was decommissioned in 1901 and became a museum in 1925. It houses multiple art and history collections as well as being a historical monument in itself.