Svein Elias Profile

I never travelled - until i was in my forties. Then I met Randi who had a wide experience with travelling. Since 2006 we have been travelling together, and since 2010 we have been "hunting" WHS'.
Through the last decade I've learnt to really appreciate the feeling of visiting new places, the curiosity and the excitement seeing different habits and cultures. Seeing nature's grand places with its unique animal life gives me great satisfaction. Historic places is another great experience, it makes you learn history along the way.
Seeing odd places which few people have visited before, preferably combined with the above, is the top of my list. Maybe it's kind of naive, but anyway...
Recent Reviews Svein Elias
The Laponian Area - Tysfjord, the fjord of Hellemobotn and Rago (T)
Svein Elias Norway - 13-Feb-21

Norwegian landscape is represented on the world heritage list only by West Norwegian fjords. Two tentative sites will try to help this out, The Lofoten Islands and The Norwegian Lapponian Area – Tysfjord, the fjord of Hellemobotn and Rago.
The two parts Tysfjord and Rago are about 50-100 km apart, but both are connected to Padjelanta nation park, a part of the Swedish Lapponian area.
Tysfjord is a fairly large fjord, a wide one
Read OnStruve Geodetic Arc
Svein Elias Norway - 27-Dec-20

WHS hunting is interesting and fun. Some are more interesting some er more fun. The interesting part of the Struve geodetic arc is the story about Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and his work. The fun is the hunting - finding obscure places – like those with a Struve “tag” on it.
We have visited 14 of these sub-sites in 5 countries (of the total of 34 in 10 countries), mostly by car.
Our first encounter was in Finland 2010 (just a small wooden pole in the woods). In 2019 we visited all five in Belarus (all stone monuments - and fairly easy to locate) and this year we completed the four in our own country, Norway. Few of these Norwegian sites are very visual, but it is fun finding a way to reach them.
Read OnThe Turf House Tradition (T)
Svein Elias Norway - 10-Aug-20

In July 2020 we took the “Island roundtrip” visiting all Iceland’s WHSs and TWHSs. The turf houses are the dominant part of the TWHSs because of its numbers, thus the turf houses were always on our minds in the trip.
The turf houses is a remnant from then viking age and where probably the building standard in northern Europe for some time. Eventually it is replaced by wooden houses, but probably is the lack of trees in Iceland made that difficult. Hence the technique has survived.
Read OnWorship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries) in Polesye (T)
Svein Elias Norway - 02-Feb-20

Our 6 days roundtrip of Belarus October 2019 we visited the St. Nikita Church of Zditovo. With a rental car and our GPS, it was no hassle finding it.
This little wooden church with its clear blue color looks very nice. While approaching the church on a Sunday just before noon we could hear the priest and the congregation inside, thus telling us not to go inside. So, we settled for viewing also this church from the outside, as all other churches we've visited in Belarus.
After taking photos all around we headed back for the gate. Then suddenly the church door opened, and people started coming out. Some of the them approached us, as we stopped to find out what happened. They smiled and spoke to us and although we don't understand Belarusian, we understood they urged us to get into the church. We turned back to the church thinking that after the ceremony it might be appropriate a little peak inside. We found the church door still closed so we hesitated. A priest (dressed up all orthodox) came out and spoke to us. Again through the language barrier, we could present ourselves as tourists from a protestant country just curious of his church
Read OnEdifices for Worship of Fortress Type in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania (T)
Svein Elias Norway - 02-Feb-20

Still in October 2019 we continue our 6 days roundtrip of Belarus and found our first edifices church in the town of Kamai a little more than 2 hours southwest from Polatsk. It's Church of Saint John the Baptist.
On a Friday afternoon it's a sleepy little town, only a few raised eye browses on the market square met us.
We went up to the church just meteres from the square - seeing just another church! It was closed and not accessible except from the outside, though inside stone fence. It's a typical "normal church" from our point of view, the only difference we could see was in addition to "normal church windows" a set of small round windows as a set of loopholes on the round towers.
Profile Data
- Name
- Svein Elias
- Country
- Norway
- Most Impressive
- Machu Picchu, Galapagos, Komodo & Grand Canyon
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 14.08.20
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Visited WHS
Rating StatsAngkor 5Baalbek 4.5Great Wall 4.5Plitvice Lakes 4.5Qadisha Valley 4.5Rila Monastery 4.5Rome 4.5Sigiriya 4.5Victoria Falls 4.5Xochicalco 4.5Brugge 4Budapest 4Ephesus 4Istanbul 4Oporto 4Ping Yao 4Pompei 4Prague 4Toledo 4Tsodilo 4Aachen Cathedral 3.5Anuradhapura 3.5Assisi 3.5Bamberg 3.5Bauhaus Sites 3.5Brú na Bóinne 3.5Butrint 3.5Camino Real 3.5Carlsbad Caverns 3.5Cienfuegos 3.5Cordoba 3.5Cracow 3.5Cuenca 3.5Cuzco 3.5El Pinacate 3.5El Tajin 3.5Epidaurus 3.5Evora 3.5Genoa 3.5Granada 3.5Graz 3.5Hué 3.5Isole Eolie 3.5Jelling 3.5Kinderdijk 3.5Kotor 3.5Laponian Area 3.5Loire Valley 3.5Malbork Castle 3.5Matera 3.5Mostar 3.5My Son 3.5Mystras 3.5Nasca Lines 3.5Neolithic Orkney 3.5Ohrid Region 3.5Old Havana 3.5Olympia 3.5Paphos 3.5Pont du Gard 3.5Quedlinburg 3.5Quito 3.5Québec 3.5Rani-ki-Vav 3.5Reims 3.5Riga 3.5Rock Art of Alta 3.5San Gimignano 3.5Segovia 3.5Selimiye Mosque 3.5Seville 3.5Siena 3.5Sighisoara 3.5Skocjan Caves 3.5Split 3.5Summer Palace 3.5Surtsey 3.5Tallinn 3.5Telc 3.5Temple of Heaven 3.5Tequila 3.5Tiwanaku 3.5Trier 3.5Vat Phou 3.5Versailles 3.5Vienna 3.5Villa d'Este 3.5Wartburg Castle 3.5Zacatecas 3.5Zamosc 3.5Anjar 3Arequipa 3Arles 3Avignon 3Avila 3Belem 3Bryggen 3Byblos 3Caceres 3Chavin 3Elvas 3Ferrara 3Hoi An 3Le Havre 3Lübeck 3Mazagan 3Modena 3Morelia 3Mérida 3Nancy 3Nessebar 3Nesvizh 3Orange 3Paquimé 3Pergamon 3Pienza 3Potsdam 3Puebla 3Ravenna 3Red Fort 3Røros 3Salzburg 3Sintra 3Syracuse 3Torun 3Trogir 3Tyre 3Urbino 3Valletta 3Vegaøyan 3Verona 3Vicenza 3Visby 3Warsaw 3Agrigento 2.5Ahmadabad 2.5Al Ain 2.5Ayutthaya 2.5Ban Chiang 2.5Belfries 2.5Bellinzone 2.5Cahokia Mounds 2.5Centennial Hall 2.5Choirokoitia 2.5Dong Phayayen 2.5El Escurial 2.5Fagus Factory 2.5Gammelstad 2.5Grand Canal 2.5Holasovice 2.5Ironbridge Gorge 2.5Kew Gardens 2.5Kyiv 2.5Lima 2.5Liverpool 2.5Luang Prabang 2.5Luther Memorials 2.5Monticello 2.5Plain of Jars 2.5Poblet Monastery 2.5Reichenau 2.5Schönbrunn 2.5Southern Öland 2.5Stevns Klint 2.5Tarraco 2.5Thang Long 2.5Tower of London 2.5Trang An 2.5Val d'Orcia 2.5Vilnius 2.5Úbeda and Baeza 2.5Aranjuez 2Corvey 2Hollókö 2Kandy 2Trebic 2Troy 2Vézelay 2Aquileia 1.5Beemster Polder 1.5Crespi d'Adda 1.5Forth Bridge 1.5Kernavë 1.5Miguasha Park 1.5New Lanark 1.5Pearling 1.5Provins 1.5Qalhat 1.5Saltaire 1.5Sammallahdenmäki 1.5Schokland 1.5Stoclet House 1.5Stećci 1Reviewed WHS
Visited TWHS
- Abraj Al-Kuwait (T)
- Amalienborg and its district (T)
- Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilization (T)
- Ancient Greek Theatres (T)
- Augustow Canal (T)
- Bahá'í House of Worship at New Delhi (T)
- Barbar Temple (T)
- Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (Serbia) (T)
- Brandberg National Monument Area (T)
- Breiðafjörður Nature Reserve (T)
- Central Kalahari Game Reserve (T)
- Central Park (T)
- Centro Storico di Lucca (T)
- Ceský ráj (Czech Paradise) Rock Cities (T)
- Cetinje Historic Core (T)
- Cittadella (Victoria - Gozo) (T)
- Citté-fortezza di Palmanova (T)
- City of Motovun (T)
- Historic Center of the City of Trujillo (T)
- Coastal Cliffs (T)
- Monastery of Santa María de La Rábida and the Columbus Memorial Places in Huelva (T)
- Cultural Landscape of Innsbruck-Nordkette/Karwendel (T)
- Delhi - A Heritage City (T)
- Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
- Djerdap National Park (T)
- Edifices for Worship of Fortress Type in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania (T)
- Etosha Pan (T)
- Flow Country (T)
- System of Fortifications at the Confluence of the Rivers Danube and Váh in Komárno - Komárom (Slova) (T)
- Fortifications in Komárno - Komárom (T)
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Germany) (T)
- Grand Trunk Road sites (T)
- Great Spas of Europe (Czechia) (T)
- Great Spas of Europe (UK) (T)
- Großglockner High Alpine Road / Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (T)
- Guano Islands, Islets, and Capes National Reserve System (T)
- Historical City Centre of Yogyakarta (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Historical-town planning ensemble of Ston (T)
- Khor Dubai (T)
- Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta (T)
- Koloniën van Weldadigheid (agricultural pauper colonies) (T)
- Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (T)
- L'amphitheatre de Durres (T)
- L'ensemble rupestre de Basarabi (T)
- Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta lakelands (T)
- Lake Titicaca (T)
- Las Pozas, Xilitla (T)
- Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom (T)
- Le noyau historique de la ville d'Alba Julia (T)
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
- Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (France) (T)
- Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Italy) (T)
- Les Alpes de la Méditerranée (Monaco) (T)
- Les grandes villes d'eaux d'Europe (T)
- Les passages de Bruxelles / Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (T)
- Les Plages du Débarquement, Normandie, 1944 (T)
- Leuven/Louvain, batiments universitaires, l'héritage de six siècles au sein du centre historique (T)
- Makgadikgadi Pans Landscape (T)
- Maltese Catacomb Complexes (T)
- Mdina (Citta Vecchia) (T)
- Mining Historical Heritage (T)
- Minoan Palatial Centres (T)
- Mývatn and Laxá (T)
- Nasca Aqueducts (T)
- Natural and Cultural Landscape of Danube Region (T)
- Natural Reserves of Tatras Mountain (T)
- Negotinske Pivnice (T)
- Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (T)
- Noyau historique d'Antwerpen -Anvers- de l'Escaut aux anciens remparts de vers 1250 (T)
- Okavango Delta (T)
- Old Town of Bar (T)
- Petrified Forest National Park (T)
- Plasencia - Monfragüe - Trujillo : Paysage méditerranéen (T)
- Pobiti Kamani Natural Monument (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- Primošten Vineyards (T)
- Rocks of Belogradchik (T)
- Roman Ways. Itineraries of the Roman Empire (T)
- Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád (T)
- Rural Temples of Cusco (T)
- Sacred Titicaca Lake (T)
- Salt Mines of Maras (T)
- Sarajevo - unique symbol of universal multiculture - continual open city (T)
- Saviour Transfiguration Church and St. Sophia Cathedral in the town of Polatsk (T)
- Seruwila to Sri Pada (Sacred Foot Print Shrine), Ancient pilgrim route along the Mahaweli river in Sri Lanka (T)
- Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Palace (T)
- Sites funéraires et mémoriels de la Première Guerre mondiale (Front Ouest) (T)
- Sites of Saytagrah (T)
- Slate Industry of North Wales (T)
- SS. Boris and Gleb (Kalozha) Church in the city of Hrodna (T)
- Sultan Bayezid II Complex: A Center of Medical Treatment (T)
- Taormina and Isola Bella (T)
- The Tara National Park with the Drina River Canyon (T)
- The Ancient Plovdiv (T)
- The Architectural Works of Alvar Aalto - a Human Dimension to the Modern Movement (T)
- The Burren (T)
- The Central Axis of Beijing (including Beihai) (T)
- The city of Bergamo (T)
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube Limes in Bulgaria (T)
- The Hadrianic city of Italica (T)
- The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares (T)
- The Historic City of Dublin (T)
- The Holy place of worship of Ukonsaari by the Sami people at Inari (T)
- The late ancient tomb of Silistra (T)
- The Lofoten islands (T)
- The natural and architectural ensemble of Jajce (T)
- The Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia (T)
- The Rise of Systematic Biology (T)
- The Roussensky Lom National Park (T)
- The town of Melnik and the Rozhen Monastery (T)
- The Turf House Tradition (T)
- The West Bohemian Spa Triangle (T)
- Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Tokaj Wine Region (T)
- Torfajökull Volcanic System / Fjallabak Nature Reserve (T)
- Troodos, Mt.Olympus (T)
- Trowulan (T)
- The Laponian Area - Tysfjord, the fjord of Hellemobotn and Rago (T)
- VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Vestfold Ship Burials and Hyllestad Quernstone Quarries (T)
- Victoria Lines Fortifications (T)
- Viking Age Ring Fortresses (T)
- VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Volterra: Historical City and Cultural Landscape (T)
- Welwitschia Plains (T)
- White Sands National Monument (T)
- Worship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries) in Polesye (T)
Reviewed TWHS
- The Laponian Area - Tysfjord, the fjord of Hellemobotn and Rago (T)
- The Turf House Tradition (T)
- Worship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries) in Polesye (T)
- Edifices for Worship of Fortress Type in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania (T)
- Saviour Transfiguration Church and St. Sophia Cathedral in the town of Polatsk (T)
Top 200 WHS
- Isole Eolie
- Le Havre
- Ferrara
- Split
- Graz
- Berat and Gjirokastra
- Salzburg
- Warsaw
- Edinburgh
- City of Bath
- Matera
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Rome
- Istanbul
- Venice and its Lagoon
- Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
- Silk Roads
- Polonnaruva
- Anuradhapura
- Angkor
- Rock Art of Alta
- Ohrid Region
- Plitvice Lakes
- Iguazu National Park
- Okavango Delta
- Victoria Falls
- Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Brú na Bóinne
- Megalithic Temples of Malta
- Nasca Lines
- Stonehenge
- Chichen-Itza
- Tikal National Park
- Mesa Verde
- Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District
- Zamosc
- Vicenza
- Vlkolinec
- San Marino and Mount Titano
- Valletta
- Urbino
- Old Rauma
- City of Luxembourg
- Riga
- Grand Place, Brussels
- Val di Noto
- Mostar
- Messel Pit
- Genoa
- Litomysl Castle
- Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz
- Würzburg Residence
- Wartburg Castle
- Schönbrunn
- Potsdam
- Versailles
- Palmyra
- Petra
- Durmitor National Park
- Dolomites
- Mount Kenya
- Pirin National Park
- Great Himalayan National Park
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Machu Picchu
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Røros
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines
- Tower of London
- Malbork Castle
- Great Wall
- Gwynedd Castles
- Regensburg
- Spissky Hrad and Levoca
- Vilnius
- Kotor
- Sighisoara
- Strasbourg
- Bardejov Town
- Trogir
- Quedlinburg
- Gammelstad
- Torun
- Bamberg
- Telc
- Rammelsberg and Goslar
- Tallinn
- San Gimignano
- Cesky Krumlov
- Budapest
- Brugge
- Vienna
- Cracow
- Dubrovnik
- Siena
- Valparaiso
- Visby
- Bryggen
- Lübeck
- Maritime Greenwich
- Belize Barrier Reef
- Great Barrier Reef
- West Norwegian Fjords
- Cuzco
- Mammoth Cave
- Aggtelek and Slovak Karst
- Skocjan Caves
- Ha Long Bay
- Yosemite National Park
- Sinharaja Forest
- Redwood
- Greater Blue Mountains
- Serengeti
- Ngorongoro
- Yellowstone
- Galapagos Islands
- Komodo National Park
- Site of Xanadu
- Van Nellefabriek
- Rjukan / Notodden
- Grand Canyon
- Monticello
- Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
- Champagne
- Muskauer Park
- Vegaøyan
- Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
- Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
- Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands
- Loire Valley
- Costiera Amalfitana
- Sintra
- Thingvellir
- Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca
- Old Havana
- Old Town of Galle
- Quito
- Thracian tomb of Kazanlak
- Madara Rider
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal
- Curonian Spit
- Kinderdijk
- Sydney Opera House
- Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo
- Modena
- Medieval Monuments in Kosovo
- Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai
- Studenica Monastery
- Reichenau
- Pannonhalma
- Euphrasian Basilica in Porec
- Pilgrimage Church of Wies
- Boyana Church
- Monastery of Horezu
- Urnes Stave Church
- Churches of Peace
- Rila Monastery
- Cologne Cathedral
- Speyer Cathedral
- Luther Memorials
- Belem
- Westminster
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa)
- Vatican City
- Meteora
- Ravenna
- Blue and John Crow Mountains
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios
- Mystras
- Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs
- Taj Mahal
- Pyramids (Memphis)
- Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple
- Kandy
- Lumbini
- Sigiriya
- Kathmandu Valley
- Samarkand
- Medina of Marrakesh
- Syracuse
- Gamzigrad-Romuliana
- Pompei
- Villa Romana del Casale
- Butrint
- Epidaurus
- Archaeological Site of Delphi
- Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
- Agrigento
- Hierapolis-Pamukkale
- Acropolis
- Olympia
- Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont
- Saint-Emilion
- Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces
- Viñales Valley
- Mount Etna