Grand Quiz on France: How high is the Eiffel Tower?

The Eiffel Tower was given the nickname The Iron Lady in 1925 and is still called this today.

Eiffel Tower Fact

Paris’ Eiffel Tower was ordered shut in October 2020 as France battled its second virus surge of the coronavirus pandemic. The monument reopened Friday, July 16, 2021, for the first time in nearly nine months.

The Eiffel Tower now measures 330 meters, after growing 6 meters (19.69 ft) on March 15, 2022, when a new DAB+ (digital audio) radio antenna was attached to the top of the Paris monument by helicopter.

Chirac. Photo: Christian Lambiotte © European Communities, 1997

Only six presidents in the history of won a second-term election. The previous one was Jacques Chirac, who entered his second term in 2002.

Macron was elected to a second term on April 24, 2022, defeating right-wing extremist Marine Le Pen for the second time and becoming the first French presidential candidate to win re-election since 2002.

Construction of the Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) cathedral began in 1163 and was largely completed by 1260 – in the 12th and 13th centuries. In March 2022, archaeologists found an ancient lead sarcophagus in the lower levels of the building, which is currently under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019. The lead casket probably belonged to a high dignitary and could date back to the 14th century.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (originally titled Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482) is a French novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. In 1998, Notre-Dame de Paris, with music by Riccardo Cocciante and lyrics by Luc Plamondon, premiered in Paris and became an instant success.

When did Notre Dame de Paris premiere in New York City?

“Notre Dame de Paris” had its New York premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on July 13, 2022.

Ubisoft Entertainment is France’s biggest video games developer. It’s headquartered in the suburbs of Paris, with development studios worldwide. Ubisoft’s franchises include “Assassin’s Creed,” “Prince of Persia,” and “Tom Clancy’s.” China’s largest social network and gaming firm Tencent raised its stake in Ubisoft Entertainment on Sept. 7, 2022, in a deal that values the French game maker at almost $10 billion.

On Sept. 12, 2021, a team of 95 rope technicians began wrapping Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in 25,000 sq. meters of material, concluding a 60-year project for the artist Christo.

Who was Christo?

The Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and his French wife Jeanne-Claude worked together under the name Christo. In 1995 they famously wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin for two weeks, drawing five million spectators. Ten years earlier, they oversaw the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris. Christo died in May 2020, while his wife died in 2009.

Why was Paris’s Arc de Triomphe wrapped in 2021?

The late Christo couple left detailed drawings and instructions for the Arc de Triomphe to be wrapped in recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue and red rope. The idea was revived in 2017 to coincide with a Christo exhibition displayed in multiple Paris galleries starting Sept. 2021. “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” was be on view for 16 days from Saturday, Sept. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.

Le Parisien newspaper reported Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021, that singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, and perhaps most notable, French Resistance agent, Josephine Baker, will be reburied at the Pantheon monument Paris. Baker is the first Black woman to get France’s highest honor. French President Emmanuel Macron decided on a Nov. 30, 2021, ceremony at the Paris monument, which houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, the French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo, and other French greats.

The house and gardens of Claude Monet are in Giverny, in the region of Normandy, France, where Monet lived and painted for 43 years.

What’s new?

After the closure of more than six months, Monet’s gardens at Giverny that inspired Monet’s world-famous paintings of water lilies and other masterpieces reopened on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.

Poutine is a classic Quebec dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with brown gravy. The dish’s name is widely believed to come from the French-Canadian pronunciation of the English word “pudding.” The famous dish shares its name – in French transliteration – with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Poutine restaurants in France received threats following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On May 5, 2024, French bakers in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris, reclaimed the world record for the longest baguette ever baked. Measuring 140.53 meters (461 feet), this impressive feat surpassed the previous record of 132.62 meters held by Italian bakers in Como. The event required 18 bakers to start the process at 3 a.m. and use a specially designed mobile oven. After baking, the baguette was celebrated by sharing slices with Nutella with the public and distributing portions to the homeless.

On June 9, 2024, following a significant defeat in the EU elections to the far-right National Rally, Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the French National Assembly and call for a snap legislative election. This strategic move aimed to regain political control and counter the far-right’s increasing influence.

The New Popular Front (NPF) is a coalition of left-wing parties in France, including France Unbowed, the Greens, and the Socialists. In the July 7, 2024, legislative elections, the NPF secured the most seats in the National Assembly, pushing the far-right National Rally led by Marine Le Pen to third place.

On May 17, 2024, the French Post Office released a unique scratch-and-sniff postage stamp to celebrate the baguette, an iconic symbol of French gastronomy. Unveiled a day earlier on the feast day of Saint Honoré, the patron saint of bakers, this unique stamp features a cartoon image of a baguette wrapped in a tricolor ribbon and costs €1.96. With an initial print run of 594,000 copies, the stamp uses innovative microcapsule technology to emit a delightful bakery scent when rubbed. The stamp also honors the baguette’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2022.