Quiz: Guess the City From These 3D Illusions (10 Photos)
By Vidar
Ten illusions. Can you place them?
A tower that seems to fold. Sharks in the sidewalk. A giant hand trapping a real person. Guess the city behind each illusion, with a clue in every question to help you along. Pick an answer to reveal the place, the artist and the story. Your score appears after all ten photos.
A tower that seems to fold in on itself, in the city of the Eiffel Tower. Which French city?
Show answer
Paris, France 🇫🇷
Shozy painted Anamorphose in 2023 for Boulevard Paris 13, at 202 Rue du Château des Rentiers. The red-framed illusion squeezes the middle of the tower into a rippling reflection, and it only lines up from one viewpoint on the street. The project’s official page identifies the work by that title. Photo: Vincent Mercier.
Sharks on the sidewalk! This is Shibuya, known for its scramble crossing. Which Japanese city?
Show answer
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan 🇯🇵
Pejac made the sidewalk in Shibuya look like deep water with a row of shark fins. The artist posted the piece as “Fin Soup” during his 2015 tour of Asia, as a comment on shark-fin consumption. NOAA Fisheries explains that many shark species have been over-exploited because their fins are valued for shark-fin soup.
A toy unicorn springs out of a wall in Gastown, on Canada’s Pacific coast. Which city?
Show answer
Vancouver, Canada 🇨🇦
Leon Keer’s anamorphic mural “Where the Unicorn still plays” measures 5.5 by 12 meters, at 21 Water Street in Gastown. On his official project page, Keer says the spring stands for the growing distance from one’s inner child, and the unicorn for the city’s creative character. He painted it in collaboration with Low Tide Properties, and an augmented-reality layer comes with it.
A jungle behind the wall, in the city of Gaudí’s Sagrada Família. Which Spanish city?
Show answer
Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸
Juandres Vera made this wall look like it is falling apart, with a rusty car stranded in a jungle on the other side. The 2024 mural in the Fort Pienc neighborhood belongs to his Road to Nowhere series, which Barbara Picci documents with the artist’s own description: painted portals to a possible world where wild nature takes back the city. Juandres Vera on Instagram.
A tunnel that isn’t there, in Peru’s main port beside Lima. Which city?
Show answer
Callao, Peru 🇵🇪
Sipion identifies this as a commissioned mural in Callao. Callao is Peru’s main port, beside Lima. He used the corner of the building to give the painted tunnel depth.
Mind the gap! This temporary illusion appeared in Sweden’s capital. Which city?
Show answer
Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪
Erik Johansson’s Mind Your Step turned part of Plattan, the patterned square at Sergels torg, into a deep hole for one week in June 2011. The illusion measured 32 by 18 meters, Fotosidan reported on opening day. Visitors froze at the edge, or posed as if they were about to fall in, like the two jumpers here. Erik Johansson on Instagram.
A cat in a box, high in the hills of a city famous for Victoria Harbour and the Star Ferry. Where are we?
Show answer
Hong Kong 🇭🇰
Vladi, a Russian graffiti artist based in Hong Kong, painted this cat curled up in a box on an abandoned stone hut about 870 meters up Tai Mo Shan. The “Cat House” quickly became a hiking stop. In November 2022, Dimsum Daily reported that the Lands Department had taped off the hut as government land, and that hundreds of hikers still came to see the cat. Vladi on Instagram.
A giant model kit, in the city of Schönbrunn Palace. Which European city?
Show answer
Vienna, Austria 🇦🇹
NEVERCREW painted Souvenir in 2026 for Klima Biennale Wien, curated by Calle Libre, on a side wall at Baumgasse 79 in the third district. A sad blue bear stands in the middle, surrounded by animal heads, ice and bones still attached to sprues. On the duo’s project page, the model-kit look stands for nature seen as a distant, controlled and simplified system, a comment on climate change and biodiversity loss.
These stairs turn into a guitarist. Which Texas city is home to NASA’s Mission Control?
Show answer
Houston, Texas, USA 🇺🇸
Ukrainian artist Alex Maksiov painted this anamorphic guitarist across the stairs at Burnett Transit Center, with his open blue case at street level. Houston METRO’s Arts in Transit account connects it to the 2022 Big Walls, Big Dreams festival, when more than a dozen murals went up across four transit sites.
Last one: a real man trapped under a painted glass. Which Scottish city on the River Clyde?
Show answer
Glasgow, UK 🇬🇧
Bobby Rogue One painted Trapped on the side of The Viceroy Bar on Paisley Road West. A young woman gently lowers a glass over a man standing in front of the wall, and the real person becomes part of the painted glass. Rogue-One on Instagram.
Your score
Which illusion fooled you?
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