Paris became one of the most recognizable capitals in the world Nov 23, 2009
The people of France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Canada, Great Britain, and United States tried to make an estimate and find out which capital city is the most recognizable. A massive survey was conducted among the citizens of these countries. The participants were shown photographs depicting the most famous sites in the cities.
The research of an online service called www.hotels.com, has shown that one of the most unnoticeable capital turns out to be Berlin. The research was based on a sample population of over 20 thousand people, and only 61% of Germans recognized their own capital by the Berlin television tower Fernsehturm - what's left to say about representatives from other countries. A third of the surveyed respondents from the country of the rising sun confused Berlin with the Russian capital, along with the Japanese, the same mistake was committed by 26% of Australians.
The Irish and the Spanish ended up leading as the most inattentive respondents – 28% of the Irish confused Dublin with Amsterdam, and 27% of the Spanish firmly believed that Lisbon is located in their home country.
The most recognizable capital of the world turned out to be Paris. Even distant neighbors of France – United States (67%), Japan (76%), Australia (74%), – recognized Paris without the Eiffel tower, but by the picture of the bridge over Seine.
The British were real masters of their home country: 99% of the respondents from Her Majesty's Great Britain, have recognized London, without the famous Big Ben, although the building of Parliament was noticeable on the photo. Also, 99% of the Swiss recognized Stockholm from a bird view photograph. The survey has not by-passed the Russian capital with attention either. Thus, over 5% of the French called Kremlin their favorite tourist site, and what's even more important, 94% of them recognized our capital without this historical symbol. Among favorite sites the Eifel Tower in Paris holds the first place, with 27% Australian voices, 19% Canadian, 18% Dutch, and 16% Irish. Another popular monument of architecture among Europeans (Germans, Spanish, French) was found to be the Taj Mahal. Representatives from other countries also mentioned with greater attention the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, the Cathedral of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), in Barcelona. True patriotism was demonstrated by the19% of Americans who called the Statue of Liberty their favorite site, and 16% of Italians who chose Vatican.
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