Find the Building: Solve the Clues & Show the Map!

[Infinitum]

Tower of London.

This is a really interesting thread! Thanks for starting it, wolram

 

[collinsmark]

Tower of London.

This is a really interesting thread! Thanks for starting it, wolram

Correct!

William the Conqueror commissioned The Tower of London (although it wasn't called that at the time). Construction was thought to have began in the year 1078.

Here is a link explaining the Raven hint:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravens_of_the_Tower_of_London

 

[collinsmark]

@Infinitum, you're up. [emoji3]

 

[Infinitum]

I'm quite bad at making up riddles . You people also seem to know a lot of landmarks so this may be quite easy... but here goes!

In one among the four huge islands I lie,
The sun greets us first, or we will cry;

I am Treasured by my people,
For with my thousand thousand arms I am not feeble;

Arrows fly towards my west,
While the competitors enjoy their fest;

Pray and you will receive mercy,
For with many eyes your suffering I see.

Enjoy!

PS: Repetition intended.

 

[256bits]

I'm quite bad at making up riddles . You people also seem to know a lot of landmarks so this may be quite easy... but here goes!

In one among the four huge islands I lie,
The sun greets us first, or we will cry;

I am Treasured by my people,
For with my thousand thousand arms I am not feeble;

Arrows fly towards my west,
While the competitors enjoy their fest;

Pray and you will receive mercy,
For with many eyes your suffering I see.

Enjoy!

PS: Repetition intended.

I think I know what you have there. I just cannot pinpoint an exact location out of many places. A recent statue 2005. Starts with G.

 

[Infinitum]

I think I know what you have there. I just cannot pinpoint an exact location out of many places. A recent statue 2005. Starts with G.

Lest I give away more hints than necessary, I'll only say that the landmark does not start with G, but the statue does.

 

[256bits]

Lest I give away more hints than necessary, I'll only say that the landmark does not start with G, but the statue does.

OK. I do not know what the landmark is. contemplating...

 

[Infinitum]

OK. I do not know what the landmark is. contemplating...

Before you delve in the wrong direction -- it was not built in 2005. But I think you may have the right identity of the statue at least, if you could name it...

 

[wolram]

Coor blimey i come back to my lap top and you have all ready done two clues, you guys are fast

 

[256bits]

Before you delve in the wrong direction -- it was not built in 2005. But I think you may have the right identity of the statue at least, if you could name it...

Guan Yin statue in Hainan, China is what I have in mind. Some fokelore said she had a thousand arms and a thousand eyes to do her acts of kindness and merci.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Darn, I missed out on a bunch of lovely riddles . . . all because physics lab and a really good show on penguins.

I'll hold on 'till the next one.

EDIT: Glad to see more players!

 

[Infinitum]

Guan Yin statue in Hainan, China is what I have in mind. Some fokelore said she had a thousand arms and a thousand eyes to do her acts of kindness and merci.

Yes! That's the correct deity, but it isn't the right location. You may want to examine the other hints from the riddle

 

[1oldman2]

Oh man, that's a popular statue but the 4 Islands clue is narrowing things a bit, By the way this qualifies as a very good riddle(I suspect you may have been sandbagging a bit when you said you weren't good at them)

 

[1oldman2]

Okay a shot in the dark here, Sendai Daikannon in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Lest I give away more hints than necessary, I'll only say that the landmark does not start with G, but the statue does.

I think it should be the Thousand Hand Bodhisattva based on this description

In one among the four huge islands I lie,
The sun greets us first, or we will cry;

I am Treasured by my people,
For with my thousand thousand arms I am not feeble;

Arrows fly towards my west,
While the competitors enjoy their fest;

Pray and you will receive mercy,
For with many eyes your suffering I see.

Look at this magnificent restoration of the Mercy Goddess statue.

 

[Infinitum]

@1oldman2: Getting closer! But that isn't it! There are two more hints in the riddle that you could still use :)

Oh man, that's a popular statue but the 4 Islands clue is narrowing things a bit, By the way this qualifies as a very good riddle(I suspect you may have been sandbagging a bit when you said you weren't good at them)

This is actually my first time writing any "riddle" of my own, so I was quite unsure of my abilities. I only created some non-rhyming puzzles in the past. Glad you liked it!

 

[Infinitum]

I think it should be the Thousand Hand Bodhisattva based on this description
Look at this magnificent restoration of the Mercy Goddess statue.

As mentioned in the link, Guan Yin is also known as the Thousand Hand Bodhisattva (and also Kannon).

However, I was not referring to that particular statue.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

I keep finding plausible answers only to learn that it's the same statue the others have guessed with different names.

I did learn about the Sanjusangendo, which is a temple with 1001 smaller statues of Kannon, though. But that's obviously not the answer . . .

 

[wolram]

I keep finding plausible answers only to learn that it's the same statue the others have guessed with different names.

I did learn about the Sanjusangendo, which is a temple with 1001 smaller statues of Kannon, though. But that's obviously not the answer . . .

Keep trying Profusely.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Keep trying Profusely.

 

[1oldman2]

Your thread count seems to be frozen.

 

[wolram]

Your thread count seems to be frozen.

Who cares as long as we are enjoying our selves

 

[Infinitum]

I keep finding plausible answers only to learn that it's the same statue the others have guessed with different names.

I did learn about the Sanjusangendo, which is a temple with 1001 smaller statues of Kannon, though. But that's obviously not the answer . . .

That is actually the correct answer! I am curious what made you think otherwise.

Allow me to explain my hints:
Firstly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjūsangen-dō

In one among the four huge islands I lie,
The sun greets us first, or we will cry;

The sun's first greeting refers to the land of rising sun, that is Japan. Four huge islands suggest the fact that it is on one of Japan's main islands (near Kyoto) and not the (many) smaller islands.

For with my thousand thousand arms I am not feeble;
...
Pray and you will receive mercy,
For with many eyes your suffering I see.

All of these point to Goddess Guan Yin (called so mainly in China), as correctly deduced, who happens to be the main deity of the Sanjusangendo temple. "Thousand thousand" refers to the existence of 1000 such smaller statues, while the main statue is also known as the Thousand Armed Kannon (in Japan).

I am Treasured by my people,

This is actually a hint to the fact that the Sanjusangendo temple is a national treasure of Japan.
And finally,

Arrows fly towards my west,
While the competitors enjoy their fest;

This refers to the annual archery contest that takes place every January on the west veranda of this temple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōshiya

Hope you find the reasoning agreeable!

@ProfuselyQuarky: Since you (almost) figured it out, I suppose it's your turn next.

 

[wolram]

Yay, well done profusely, i expect a good one from you

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

That is actually the correct answer! I am curious what made you think otherwise.

Gee, I would have never expected that! You see, everybody was talking about place as if it were a single large statue. 1001 statues was not exactly what I had in mind

I'll think of a riddle today, but please be patient. Midterm week = too much work and too many deadlines week

 

[256bits]

I looked at japan and didn't see anything. Good going Profuse.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Alrighty, here’s the next set of clues. @Infinitum may have been just being humble when he said that he was no good at riddles, but, seriously, I completely lack the skill.

A painter's palette,
Birthplace of cherished fairytales,
An old place for commerce,
A now delightful (once seedy) place for merriment,
Split in half by a waterway
Dug by captives,
From a war a decade prior.

EDIT: I should also mention that this is not a single building, rather, it is a small district with an assortment of numbered buildings.

 

[wolram]

Profusely, my guess is Hanau Germany.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Profusely, my guess is Hanau Germany.

Ah, you're very close with the region, but the place is in a different country.

EDIT: Oh, I just saw that Hanau was home of the Grimm brothers. Clever thinking, Wolram!

 

[collinsmark]

Alrighty, here’s the next set of clues. @Infinitum may have been just being humble when he said that he was no good at riddles, but, seriously, I completely lack the skill.

A painter's palette,
Birthplace of cherished fairytales,
An old place for commerce,
A now delightful (once seedy) place for merriment.

I hope I didn’t give away too many hints.

Too many?!

Hmm. I have several possible locations in contention, but I'm having trouble narrowing them down (the non-Germany hint helped). Here's my top contender at the moment, although I don't think I can nail it down to a particular building -- it's just a general location.

Amsterdam (and maybe more specifically, the De Wallen area).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/D...2!3m1!1s0x47c609b884575367:0x3509f467a8d39c68

My logic for this guess is as follows:

• Painter's palette: perhaps a reference to various artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and/or Stedelijk.
• Birthplace of cherished fairytales: http://www.worldoftales.com/Dutch_fairy_tales.html
• The commerce and merriment clues speak for themselves on this one.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Too many?!

Hmm. I have several possible locations in contention, but I'm having trouble narrowing them down (the non-Germany hint helped). Here's my top contender at the moment, although I don't think I can nail it down to a particular building -- it's just a general location.

Amsterdam (and maybe more specifically, the De Wallen area).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/D...2!3m1!1s0x47c609b884575367:0x3509f467a8d39c68

My logic for this guess is as follows:

• Painter's palette: perhaps a reference to various artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and/or Stedelijk.
• Birthplace of cherished fairytales: http://www.worldoftales.com/Dutch_fairy_tales.html
• The commerce and merriment clues speak for themselves on this one.

Good guess! I suppose the place is less known than I thought. I edited the list of clues. Try again.

 

[collinsmark]

Somewhere in Belgium might be a place to look. Maybe around the Bruges area could be a start.

Napoleon had some Spanish prisoners build canals such as the Damse Canal (Damse-Vaart), (Although the Damse canal wasn't completed until later.)

Canals being dug by prisoners (i.e, "captives") may not be that uncommon in history. Even in more modern times; the White Sea-Baltic Canal was built by Gulag prisoners.

Belgium has a broad history of painters. Lots of fairy tales may have had their origins in Belgium too.

But I'm not succeeding in using a hint specific enough to latch onto and nail down a specific guess.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Somewhere in Belgium might be a place to look. Maybe around the Bruges area could be a start.

Napoleon had some Spanish prisoners build canals such as the Damse Canal (Damse-Vaart), (Although the Damse canal wasn't completed until later.)

Canals being dug by prisoners (i.e, "captives") may not be that uncommon in history. Even in more modern times; the White Sea-Baltic Canal was built by Gulag prisoners.

Belgium has a broad history of painters. Lots of fairy tales may have had their origins in Belgium too.

But I'm not succeeding in using a hint specific enough to latch onto and nail down a specific guess.

I love your persistence! I'll give you the country: Denmark

Hopefully that will narrow it down a bit more.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Canals being dug by prisoners (i.e, "captives") may not be that uncommon in history.

True, but these are prisoners from "a war a decade prior". Prisoners dug the waterway a decade after "the war" ended. I now gave you that the country is Denmark, so that narrows down wars, too.

 

[Infinitum]

This was fairly tough. The country clue helped! I knew this place but I only realized it after a couple of Google searches -- and I did not know H. C. Andersen was Danish!

Nyhavn in Copenhagen?

So many colours!