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...

Norway Last Update 14.08.20 485 WHS Visited 12 Reviews 482 WHS Rated 128 TWHS Visited

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Recent Reviews Svein Elias

Struve 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.

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The 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.

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Worship 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

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Edifices 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.

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Saviour Transfiguration Church and St. Sophia Cathedral in the town of Polatsk (T)

Svein Elias Norway - 02-Feb-20

Early October 2019 we went on a 6 days roundtrip of Belarus. An Air Baltic flight via Riga, a Visa-on-arrival and a rent-a-car at arrival made this arrival like everywhere else. To our surprise it was a Russian registered car! We wondered if the Russian-Belarusian relations between "the commons" were ok or would we experience any bullying, but it all turned out ok.

We headed against Polatsk. Our "smart" GPS took us through highways and smaller roads, also through small towns and even gravel roads! Mainly the roads are ok, so everything worked out just fine. After 2 1/2 hours we arrived Polatsk round six o'clock in the evening.

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Profile Data

Name: Svein Elias
Country: Norway
Most Impressive: Machu Picchu, Galapagos, Komodo & Grand Canyon

Recently Visited WHS

Update 14.08.20: Vatnajökull National Park

Visited WHS

Rating Stats

Angkor 5

Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks 5

Dolomites 5

Galapagos Islands 5

Grand Canyon 5

Komodo National Park 5

Machu Picchu 5

Taj Mahal 5

West Norwegian Fjords 5

Baalbek 4.5

Great Wall 4.5

Manu National Park 4.5

Plitvice Lakes 4.5

Qadisha Valley 4.5

Rila Monastery 4.5

Rome 4.5

Sigiriya 4.5

Victoria Falls 4.5

Xochicalco 4.5

Acropolis 4

Aggtelek and Slovak Karst 4

Alto Douro 4

Aphrodisias 4

Archaeological Site of Delphi 4

Borobudur 4

Brugge 4

Budapest 4

Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc 4

Dinosaur Provincial Park 4

Dubrovnik 4

Durmitor National Park 4

Edinburgh 4

Ephesus 4

Fatehpur Sikri 4

Grand Place, Brussels 4

Gros Morne National Park 4

Guanajuato 4

Ha Long Bay 4

Hierapolis-Pamukkale 4

Huascaran National Park 4

Humayun's Tomb 4

Imperial Palace 4

Istanbul 4

Jantar Mantar 4

Mesa Verde 4

Mistaken Point 4

Mount Etna 4

Namib Sand Sea 4

Okavango Delta 4

Oporto 4

Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 4

Ping Yao 4

Pompei 4

Prague 4

Prambanan 4

Qhapaq Ñan 4

Qutb Minar 4

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station 4

Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo 4

Sceilg Mhichíl 4

Teotihuacan 4

Thingvellir 4

Toledo 4

Tsodilo 4

Vatican City 4

Villages with Fortified Churches 4

Viñales Valley 4

Wood Buffalo National Park 4

Works of Antoni Gaudí 4

Aachen Cathedral 3.5

Amsterdam Canal Ring 3.5

Anuradhapura 3.5

Assisi 3.5

Bamberg 3.5

Bauhaus Sites 3.5

Brú na Bóinne 3.5

Butrint 3.5

Camino Real 3.5

Carlsbad Caverns 3.5

Cienfuegos 3.5

City of Luxembourg 3.5

Cordoba 3.5

Costiera Amalfitana 3.5

Cracow 3.5

Cuenca 3.5

Cuzco 3.5

El Pinacate 3.5

El Tajin 3.5

Epidaurus 3.5

Etruscan Necropolises 3.5

Evora 3.5

Genoa 3.5

Granada 3.5

Graz 3.5

Heritage of Mercury 3.5

Hill Forts of Rajasthan 3.5

Hué 3.5

Isole Eolie 3.5

Jelling 3.5

Keoladeo National Park 3.5

Kinderdijk 3.5

Kotor 3.5

Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 3.5

L'Anse aux Meadows 3.5

Laponian Area 3.5

Loire Valley 3.5

Malbork Castle 3.5

Matera 3.5

Megalithic Temples of Malta 3.5

Monastery of Batalha 3.5

Mont-Saint-Michel 3.5

Mostar 3.5

Mudejar Architecture of Aragon 3.5

My Son 3.5

Mystras 3.5

Nasca Lines 3.5

Neolithic Orkney 3.5

Ohrid Region 3.5

Old Havana 3.5

Olympia 3.5

Paphos 3.5

Petäjävesi Old Church 3.5

Phong Nha - Ke Bang 3.5

Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 3.5

Pilgrimage Church of Wies 3.5

Pont du Gard 3.5

Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 3.5

Preah Vihear Temple 3.5

Quedlinburg 3.5

Quito 3.5

Québec 3.5

Rammelsberg and Goslar 3.5

Rani-ki-Vav 3.5

Reims 3.5

Riga 3.5

Rock Art of Alta 3.5

San Gimignano 3.5

Sangay National Park 3.5

Santa Ana de los Rios de Cuenca 3.5

Segovia 3.5

Selimiye Mosque 3.5

Seville 3.5

Siena 3.5

Sighisoara 3.5

Skocjan Caves 3.5

Spissky Hrad and Levoca 3.5

Split 3.5

Summer Palace 3.5

Surtsey 3.5

Tallinn 3.5

Telc 3.5

Temple of Heaven 3.5

Tequila 3.5

Tiwanaku 3.5

Trier 3.5

Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios 3.5

Urnes Stave Church 3.5

Vat Phou 3.5

Versailles 3.5

Vienna 3.5

Villa d'Este 3.5

Wachau Cultural Landscape 3.5

Wartburg Castle 3.5

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park 3.5

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5

Zacatecas 3.5

Zamosc 3.5

Abbey of St Gall 3

Agra Fort 3

Amiens Cathedral 3

Anjar 3

Arequipa 3

Arles 3

Auschwitz Birkenau 3

Avignon 3

Avila 3

Bardejov Town 3

Belem 3

Berat and Gjirokastra 3

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe 3

Bom Jesus do Monte 3

Boyana Church 3

Bryggen 3

Bursa and Cumalikizik 3

Byblos 3

Caceres 3

Caral-Supe 3

Central Highlands 3

Cesky Krumlov 3

Chaco Culture 3

Champagne 3

Chan Chan 3

Chavin 3

Churches of Peace 3

Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay 3

City of Bath 3

Cologne Cathedral 3

Convent of Christ in Tomar 3

Curonian Spit 3

Danube Delta 3

Defence Line of Amsterdam 3

Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs 3

Elvas 3

Ferrara 3

Fontainebleau 3

Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda 3

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3

Frontiers of the Roman Empire 3

Giant's Causeway 3

Guimarães 3

Gulf of California 3

Gwynedd Castles 3

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump 3

High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago 3

Hoi An 3

Hospicio Cabañas 3

Imperial Tombs 3

Jaipur City, Rajasthan 3

Joggins Fossil Cliffs 3

Kronborg Castle 3

Kutna Hora 3

La Lonja de la Seda 3

Lake District 3

Land of Frankincense 3

Le Havre 3

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape 3

Litomysl Castle 3

Longobards in Italy 3

Lübeck 3

Major Town Houses 3

Mantua and Sabbioneta 3

Maritime Greenwich 3

Maulbronn Monastery 3

Mazagan 3

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo 3

Medina of Marrakesh 3

Messel Pit 3

Modena 3

Monastery of Alcobaça 3

Morelia 3

Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3

Mycenae and Tiryns 3

Mérida 3

Nancy 3

Nessebar 3

Nesvizh 3

Old Rauma 3

Old Town Lunenburg 3

Old Town of Galle 3

Orange 3

Painted Churches in the Troödos Region 3

Pannonhalma 3

Paquimé 3

Paris, Banks of the Seine 3

Peking Man Site 3

Pergamon 3

Pienza 3

Pirin National Park 3

Polonnaruva 3

Potsdam 3

Poverty Point 3

Puebla 3

Qal'at al-Bahrain 3

Querétaro 3

Ravenna 3

Red Fort 3

Regensburg 3

Rideau Canal 3

Rjukan / Notodden 3

Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 3

Røros 3

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy 3

Salamanca 3

Salzburg 3

Sambor Prei Kuk 3

San Antonio Missions 3

San Marino and Mount Titano 3

San Miguel de Allende 3

Sinharaja Forest 3

Sintra 3

Statue of Liberty 3

Stonehenge 3

Strasbourg 3

Syracuse 3

Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae 3

The Prosecco Hills 3

Torun 3

Trogir 3

Twyfelfontein 3

Tyre 3

Urbino 3

Val di Noto 3

Valletta 3

Vegaøyan 3

Venetian Works of Defence 3

Verona 3

Vicenza 3

Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 3

Villa Romana del Casale 3

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont 3

Visby 3

Wadden Sea 3

Warsaw 3

Westminster 3

Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi 3

Würzburg Residence 3

Aflaj irrigation system 2.5

Agrigento 2.5

Ahmadabad 2.5

Al Ain 2.5

Alcala de Henares 2.5

Antequera Dolmens Site 2.5

Ayutthaya 2.5

Bali Subak system 2.5

Ban Chiang 2.5

Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn 2.5

Belfries 2.5

Bellinzone 2.5

Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Bialowieza Forest 2.5

Benedictine Convent of St. John 2.5

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape 2.5

Botanical Garden, Padua 2.5

Bourges Cathedral 2.5

Cahokia Mounds 2.5

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2.5

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5

Centennial Hall 2.5

Central University City Campus of the UNAM 2.5

Chartres Cathedral 2.5

Choirokoitia 2.5

Coa Valley and Siega Verde 2.5

Dacian Fortresses 2.5

Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 2.5

Donana National Park 2.5

Dong Phayayen 2.5

Durham Castle and Cathedral 2.5

El Escurial 2.5

Euphrasian Basilica in Porec 2.5

Fagus Factory 2.5

Fortifications of Vauban 2.5

Fortress of Suomenlinna 2.5

Gammelstad 2.5

Gamzigrad-Romuliana 2.5

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz 2.5

Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz 2.5

Grand Canal 2.5

Grimeton Radio Station 2.5

Hedeby and Danevirke 2.5

Hildesheim Cathedral and Church 2.5

Holasovice 2.5

Independence Hall 2.5

Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 2.5

Ironbridge Gorge 2.5

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 2.5

Kew Gardens 2.5

Kyiv 2.5

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces 2.5

Lima 2.5

Liverpool 2.5

Luang Prabang 2.5

Luther Memorials 2.5

Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge 2.5

Monastery of Horezu 2.5

Monticello 2.5

Palmeral of Elche 2.5

Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk 2.5

Plain of Jars 2.5

Plantin-Moretus Museum 2.5

Poblet Monastery 2.5

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal 2.5

Popocatepetl monasteries 2.5

Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple 2.5

Reichenau 2.5

Rietveld Schröderhuis 2.5

Rock Carvings in Tanum 2.5

Rock Drawings in Valcamonica 2.5

Roskilde Cathedral 2.5

Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5

Saint-Savin sur Gartempe 2.5

Schönbrunn 2.5

Southern Öland 2.5

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 2.5

Stevns Klint 2.5

Stralsund and Wismar 2.5

Struve Geodetic Arc 2.5

Studenica Monastery 2.5

Studley Royal Park 2.5

Tarraco 2.5

Thang Long 2.5

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5

Thracian tomb of Kazanlak 2.5

Thracian tomb of Sveshtari 2.5

Tokaji Wine Region 2.5

Tower of London 2.5

Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 2.5

Trang An 2.5

Val d'Orcia 2.5

Vilnius 2.5

Wooden Churches of Southern Malopolska 2.5

Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians 2.5

Úbeda and Baeza 2.5

Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch 2

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque 2

Aranjuez 2

Bahla Fort 2

Banska Stiavnica 2

Canterbury 2

Caves and Ice Age Art 2

Christiansfeld 2

Citadel of the Ho Dynasty 2

Corvey 2

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland 2

Dilmun Burial Mounds 2

Drottningholm 2

Falun Great Copper Mountain 2

Fertö/Neusiedlersee 2

Flemish Béguinages 2

Gorham's Cave Complex 2

Grand Pré 2

Hollókö 2

Holy Trinity Column 2

Hortobágy 2

Kandy 2

Karlskrona 2

Madara Rider 2

Mafra Palace, Convent and Royal Hunting Park 2

Mammoth Cave 2

Medici Villas and Gardens 2

Medina Azahara 2

Medina of Essaouira 2

Medina of Tétouan 2

Mir Castle 2

Monte San Giorgio 2

Muskauer Park 2

Naumburg Cathedral 2

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 2

Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin 2

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai 2

Par force hunting landscape 2

Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2

Sangiran Early Man Site 2

Speyer Cathedral 2

Stari Grad Plain 2

Stari Ras and Sopocani 2

Taos Pueblo 2

The Four Lifts 2

Tlacotalpan 2

Trebic 2

Troy 2

University of Coimbra 2

Van Nellefabriek 2

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill 2

Vlkolinec 2

Vézelay 2

Xanthos-Letoon 2

Aquileia 1.5

Beemster Polder 1.5

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates 1.5

Birka and Hovgarden 1.5

Crespi d'Adda 1.5

Engelsberg Ironworks 1.5

Forth Bridge 1.5

Kernavë 1.5

Miguasha Park 1.5

Mining Sites of Wallonia 1.5

New Lanark 1.5

Pearling 1.5

Prehistoric Pile Dwellings 1.5

Provins 1.5

Qalhat 1.5

Saltaire 1.5

Sammallahdenmäki 1.5

Santa Maria de Guadelupe 1.5

Schokland 1.5

Stoclet House 1.5

Krzemionki prehistoric striped flint mining region 1

Primeval Beech Forests 1

Skogskyrkogarden 1

Stećci 1

Zollverein 1

Srebarna Nature Reserve 0.5

Völklingen Ironworks 0.5

Classical Weimar

Upper Middle Rhine Valley

Vatnajökull National Park

World Heritage Site

for World Heritage Travellers

Svein Elias Profile

Visited Sites Svein Elias

Legend

Recent Reviews Svein Elias

Struve Geodetic Arc

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)

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