Civ6 Leaders' Backgrounds Inspirations

[Guandao]

This thread is for the purposes of identifying the Civ 6 leader backgrounds' inspirations. And also for discussing the background choices, and whether they are suitable for the leaders. Personally, I am fine with the majority of the choices.

America (Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose)
Teddy's background is obviously the White House, the official home of USA's president. Makes a whole lot of sense.

Spoiler Teddy background :

Arabia (Saladin (Vizier)
Saladin's background appears to be Cairo next to the Nile River. The two minarets appear to represent the Cairo Citadel.

Spoiler Saladin's background :

Australia (John Curtin)
In the Outback, with a house and Uluru (?) in the distance.

Spoiler John Curtin's Background :

Aztecs (Montezuma I)
Monty's background reminds me more of Chichen Itza's El Castillo than Tenochtitlan. Does not resemble the Templo Mayor (aka Huey Teocalli) I am familiar with, which had two separate "houses" on top.

Spoiler Monty's background :

Brazil (Pedro II)
The building in the background of Pedro's is based on Ilha Fiscal.Originally named by Europeans as Ilha dos Ratos (Rat Island), its current name comes from the fact there have worked since the Guarda Fiscal, serving the port of the then capital of the Empire in the nineteenth century. The island became famous for having housed the famous Baile da Ilha Fiscal, the last big party of the Empire before the proclamation of the Republic in November 1889. Ilha Fiscal now houses a museum of cultural history that is maintained by the Navy of Brazil.

Spoiler Pedro's background :

China (Qin Shi Huang)
Qin's background shows the Great Wall. Qin Shi Huang is famous for building a version of the wall, of which little has survives. I have no idea what the building in the foreground represents. The Qin Dynasty capital Xianyang wouldn't have been so close to the wall.

Spoiler Qin's background :

Egypt (Cleopatra)
Cleo's background is not Alexandria, the capital of the Ptolemies. I can see an obelisk and what appears to be the Pyramids of Giza in the background. Did the Ptolemies had a palace nearby the pyramids, maybe in Memphis?

Spoiler Cleo's background :

England (Victoria)
Victoria's background is apparently Windsor Castle, a royal residence of the British (and earlier the English) royal family.

Spoiler Vicky's background :

France (Catherine de Medici (Black Queen)
Cathy's background seems inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte with regards with the design of the building in the center. Constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe.

Spoiler Cathy's background :

Germany (Frederick Barbarossa)
So much snow! What's up with German castles being portrayed during winter in Civ? (Neuschwanstein's art in Civ5 also depicts it during winter time). The castle is the distance might be based on the Kyffhausen Castle or Burg Trifels. Trifels is famous for being the location where King Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned after being captured during his return from the Third Crusade.

Spoiler Freddy's background :

Greece (Pericles)
Pericles' background is the Acropolis of Athens. The temple in the foreground appears to be the Temple of Hephaestus.

Spoiler Perry's background :

Greece (Gorgo)
Three temples are visible in Gorgo's background. Possibly one of them could be the Menelaion.

Spoiler Gorgo's background :

India (Gandhi)
For the second time in a row, Gandhi is depicted with water in the background, complete with lotus flowers floating on the surface. No idea if the shrine-like structure is based on an actual place in India.

Spoiler Gandhi's background :

Indonesia (Gitarja)
A very wild looking landscape with at least two Javanese temples in the background (Trowulan?)

Spoiler Gitarja's Background :

Japan (Hojo Tokimune)
One of the few backgrounds inside a building. It seems to represent Hojo's room or living quarters, as evidenced by one of his katanas being displayed on the table. The palace of the Kamakura shogunate appears to be long gone in real life.

Spoiler Hojo's background :

Khmer (Jayavarman VII)
A very wild Jungle/Rainforest with a medieval Khmer style temple in the background....Could it be the Bayon of Angkor Thom?

Spoiler Jayavarman VII's Background :

Kongo (Mvemba a Nzinga)
His background appears to show a lake or bayou-like area with stilted houses and a pier. Could this represent M'banza Kongo pre-European influence?

Spoiler Mvemba's background :

Korea (Seondeok)
A beautiful night scene with an unidentified Shilla-era building (possibly a Shrine) and a Hongsalmun gate.

Spoiler Seondeok's Background :

Macedon (Alexander)
A beautiful night scene with an ocean and a structure with columns (Temple?). Possibly meant to represent Macedonia? with the Ionian Sea in the background.

Spoiler Alexander's Background :

Mongolia (Genghis Khan)
Mongolian steppes, with Yurts/Gers next to a river....The Orkhon River is the most plausible candidate.

Spoiler Genghis Khan's Background :

Netherlands (Wilhelmina)
Yellow Flower fields with a Windmill in the background. Very typical Dutch....

Spoiler Wilhelmina's Background :

Norway (Harald Hardrada)
Harry's background shows a fjord with a moored longship with a beautiful aurora borealis in the sky. Can any Norwegians identify the fjord?

Spoiler Harry's background :

Nubia (Amanitore)
Two Nubian style pyramids against a beautiful night sky....likely near Meroe.

Spoiler Amanitore's Background :

Persia (Cyrus)
A Pairidaeza Garden. Not sure if it's a specific one or how accurate it was to Achaemenid gardens.

Spoiler Cyrus' Background :

Poland (Jadwiga)
Appears to have a Church in the background. According to chefofrats-
"Second, I have no idea what real life church it could be. It is somewhat similar to the fortified 16th century church at Brochów, but many details do not match. The 1928-1929 church dedicated to Saint Jadwiga in Zabrze is vaguely similar to the one in the background, too, but again many details are off. I will do some more research into this, but at the moment I am inclined to think Jadwiga's background is either pure fantasy, or only loosely based on reality."

Spoiler Jadwiga's Background :

Rome (Trajan)
Trajan's background appears to be based on the Roman forum, but not the forum built by him. I can recognize the Senate House (or Curia) and I think the row of columns is supposed to be the Temple of Saturn.

Spoiler Trajan's background :

Russia (Peter the Great)
Two ships are being built in Peter's background. Could be the Admiralty Shipyard.

Spoiler Pete's background :

Scythia (Tomyris)
Tomyris is inside a tent. Looking out the entrance, one can see another tent and a mountainous landscape with sheep. Not sure if the landscape is accurately inspired by the land where the Massagetae lived (Central Asia).

Spoiler Tomi's background :

Spain (Philip II)
Philip's background is El Escorial, which he helped design. It is functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university and hospital.

Spoiler Phil's background :

Sumeria (Gilgamesh)
Gilgy's background is possibly meant to be his capital, Uruk. The lamassu statue looks more Assyrian than something the Sumerians would built.

Spoiler Gil's background :

 

[Siptah]

Barbarossa has probably Burg Trifels behind him.
Cleo's Background seems a random romanticized background, not a real location.
I'm not sure if Pedro's location is a real place with that lone building.

 

[George Abitbol]

France (Catherine de Medici)
Cathy’s background is possibly the Tuileries Palace, which was one of her building projects. I’m not definitely sure the Tuileries matches the background perfectly.

The Tuileries Palace would have been a great choice for the background (and related to Catherine as you pointed), but it's not. It seems to be inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte, at least for the roof.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaux-le-Vicomte

Nice thread!

 

[Zaarin]

The inspiration for the leader backgrounds is that the leader backgrounds are remarkably uninspired.

 

[Guandao]

I have to say my three least favorite backgrounds are Mvemba a Nzinga's, Trajan's, and Monty's.
Mvemba because the real life Mbanza Kongo doesn't seem to have been in a swampy area, as far as I can tell.

Trajan because of the row of columns which is supposed to be an actual Roman temple. And why not portray the forum Trajan built instead, complete with the famous Trajan's column.

Montezuma because the temple looks like Chichen Itza's El Castillo instead of Tenochtitlan. Unless the Huey Teocalli looked like El Castillo during Montezuma I's reign.

I can see why Firaxis chose to not portray Alexandria in Cleo's background. They wanted to make it more stereotypically Egyptian.

More Backgrounds (First Post reached the picture limit)
Cree (Poundmaker)
A Winter scene devoid of human habitation or impact, with evergreen trees, and bison.....why no Mekewaps?

Spoiler Poundmaker's Background :

Georgia (Tamar)
A Church before a lake/mountainous scene. Church Design seems to be a combination of Ananuri Fortress and Jvari Monastery.

Spoiler Tamar's Background :

India (Chandragupta)
Apparently a temple based on Akshardham. Understandable, since little has remain of ancient Pataliputra (modern Patna), including the Mauryan royal palace.

Spoiler Chandragupta's Background :

Mapuche (Lautaro)
Another nature scenery devoid of human involvement, with a Waterfall. Seems suspicious for two Amerindian Civs to have no trace of human impact in the leader background, Maybe Firaxis has bought into the "pristine wilderness" myth or the Amerindian Environmentalist myth? Possibly Laja Falls?

Spoiler Lautaro's Background :

Scotland (Robert the Bruce)
Very green Scottish scenery with a castle. Possibly an early version of Stirling Castle.

Spoiler Robert the Bruce's Background :

Zulus (Shaka)
With a large mountain in the distance, several Zulu houses with Savannah looking trees. I mean, if the Zulus and Mongols can have human habitations in their background, why can't the Mapuche and Cree be the same?

Spoiler Shaka's Background :

 

[SofNascimento_]

why not portray the forum Trajan built instead, complete with the famous Trajan's column.

I thought the same thing... a colonnade is so traditional. Something based on Trajan forum and his column would be much more epic.

Or maybe they wanted something more generic because of multiple leaders?

 

[Guandao]

I thought the same thing... a colonnade is so traditional. Something based on Trajan forum and his column would be much more epic.

Or maybe they wanted something more generic because of multiple leaders?

If they wanted to make the backgrounds more generic for multiple leaders, then they did a bad job on some of them. Isabella in front of El Escorial would be weird, since Philip II was the one who had that built and he lived after Isabella died.

 

[Gabriel Sergio]

Update?

 

[Mercade]

Peter the Great (Russia) has as background what appears to be a shipyard.

Gilgamesh (Sumeria) appears to be a terraced temple with a city (Uruk?) in the background. It doesn't really look like a ziggurat, but perhaps it's stylised.

Saladin (Arabia) has a rather darkly painted lake or bay with some housing lights on the right side. Not clear if that's a town or palace.

And uhm, maybe wishful thinking, but Poland isn't a confirmed entry in the game at launch.

 

[UnknownHuman]

Peter the Great, it might be a shipyard in the Netherlands since he worked there during the Grand Embassy.

 

[Morningcalm]

Catherine de Medici's background is so ahistorical that it bothers me. A lot of the backgrounds also seem very faded, which is unfortunate. The clearer versions highlighted in promos of Twitch streams and such are much better.

 

[Siptah]

Gilgamesh stands in a square of an Assyrian city (you can see it because of the lamassu style in the back). Since there is a pylon in the back as well, it might be an open palace court instead of a public square. I doubt it's modeled after a really place.
Saladin's background might just be a rather rural glimpse at the Nile near Cairo at night. A bit of a shame, his citadel in Cairo or the view from that would have made a great background, but also emphasize the military side he doesn't have. Of course it looks much different now than it used to in his times...
Peter's might as well be the shipyard in St. Petersburg.

 

[Guandao]

I updated the OP. I look forward to seeing the backgrounds of future Civs, or of alternate leaders.

 

[Atlas627]

Nice thread, though it would help if you included the pictures of each background for comparison.

 

[Morningcalm]

That would take too much space, frankly.

 

[Atlas627]

That would take too much space, frankly.

This is what spoilers are for.

 

[napenorini]

Peter the Great was very down to earth and just crazy about ships since his youth. He basically started a war with the Ottomans and then with the Swedes to get access to the sea. I was quite pleased with this choice of background when I saw it.

 

[halfhalfharp]

Spoiler Tamar :

Tamar's background looks really similar to this, The Ananuri fortress in Georgia, built in around 13th century. Nut I can't find the exactly same one. Maybe inspired by it.

 

[halfhalfharp]

Spoiler Chandragupta :

I think it is the Akshardham temple in new Delhi, if I haven't mistaken.

It was a temple built in 2005, a modern hindu temple, but it appears behind Chandragupta lol.

 

[Zaarin]

Yeah, another headscratching moment: why do the buildings in Tamar's background have domes rather than the characteristically Georgian spires?