Tony H. Profile
I got interested of World Heritage Sites when I first learned about them as a teenager back in the early 2000's. For me it was funny that in my home country of Finland there was an old factory that was protected by the UNESCO and it made me more curious of what World Heritage Sites were about.
Nowadays I try to visit as many sites as I can during my travels but I don't plan my trips just around WHS collecting. But the WHS collecting has brought me to places I would have never visited otherwise, and even if those random sites aren't the most spectacular, the journey and experience to visit e.g. a tiny wooden Slovak church in a remote small village feels even more special.
My travels have so far concentrated on Europe and Asia, but hopefully in the future there will be more visits to the Americas and Africa.
Recent Reviews Tony H.
Genbaku Dome
Tony H. Finland - 13-Jan-25
I visited Genbaku Dome in November 2024. Despite the sunny and warm weather, my mind wasn't sunny. A heavy feeling will land on you when you approach the ruins of what used to be the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall. We all know how we got the point that it's in ruins now and watching these ruins made me full of heavy thoughts. But I have to admit that still even in ruins it's quite attractive building. Opposite the Genbaku Dome on the other side of the Ota river is the Peace Bell that anyone can go to play. The sound of the bell playing over the Genbaku Dome makes the scene even more haunting.
Read OnRietveld Schröderhuis
Tony H. Finland - 10-Dec-24
I was visiting Utrecht University back in 2010 and to get to the university from my accommodation I cycled past Rietveld Schröderhuis daily. Unfortunately I didn't have time to visit it back then and it always bothered me how near miss this site was for me. But luckily in April 2024 I had finally chance to visit the house properly. I had pre-booked the house tour online and I arrived 15 minutes before my time slot. While waiting for the tour to start I was guided to watch a film about the house and interview of Truus Schröder-Schräder where she described how the life was in the house. I found the film very interesting and good introduction before the actual tour.
Read OnBeijing Central Axis
Tony H. Finland - 10-Dec-24
Visited in June 2024 just before the site was added to the WH list. On this review I will focus on the parts of the axis that are not inscribed otherwise, so I'm skipping Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City and Wanning Bridge in this review.
After visiting Temple of Heaven I exited it through the western gate. From here starts Yongdingmen Park and I was surprised to see almost immediately a map of the Beijing Central Axis that showed the core zone and the buffer zone of the WH site! On the map Yongdingmen Park was marked as "Southern Section Road Archeological Sites". Walking bit further into the park there were other maps showing the exact spots of these archaeological sites
Read OnLower German Limes
Tony H. Finland - 09-Dec-24
I visited in April 2024 the DOMunder experience in Utrecht. Like previous reviewer has explained, you get to go under the Domplein square to explore with flashlights the ruins of the Dom Church's nave that was destroyed by a tornado(!) in 1647. However, besides the church ruins you can see also other ruins from different time periods, one of them being the Roman period. There is a very tiny part of the Roman wall on show as the Roman ruins are not the main focus of the DOMunder.
The DOMunder tour started with a presentation in the basement of Utrecht Music School where the guide goes through also the Roman history of the Domplein
Read OnSummer Palace
Tony H. Finland - 08-Dec-24
I visited the Summer Palace in June 2024. The palace is located at the outskirts of Beijing so going there by public transport takes some time. I took the subway to Beigongmen station that makes you to access the palace grounds from the north entrance. This entrance was quite peaceful as bus tour groups seem to enter from the east entrance. I bought the ticket that allows access to all the different sites in the palace grounds but you can also opt for cheaper ticket that allows you to stroll just the gardens, which are still a lot to see.
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- Tony H.
- Country
- Finland
- Ranking
- 339
- Most Impressive
- Great Pyramids of Giza, Old City of Jerusalem, Taj Mahal
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 12.01.25
-
Visited WHS
Rating StatsEphesus 5Florence 5Granada 5Istanbul 5Rome 5Vienna 5Ancient Nara 4.5Dolomites 4.5Dubrovnik 4.5Giant's Causeway 4.5Great Wall 4.5Imperial Palace 4.5L'viv 4.5Prague 4.5Riga 4.5St. Petersburg 4.5Upper Svaneti 4.5Versailles 4.5Brugge 4Budapest 4Hegra 4Nancy 4Seville 4Tallinn 4Trang An 4Vilnius 4Yazd 4Acropolis 3.5Agra Fort 3.5Banska Stiavnica 3.5Borobudur 3.5Boyana Church 3.5Cesky Krumlov 3.5Cordoba 3.5Fatehpur Sikri 3.5Humayun's Tomb 3.5Hué 3.5Kew Gardens 3.5Mostar 3.5Old City of Acre 3.5Oporto 3.5Persian Garden 3.5Potsdam 3.5Sintra 3.5Strasbourg 3.5Thingvellir 3.5Verona 3.5Vlkolinec 3.5Warsaw 3.5Butrint 3Hattusha 3Hoi An 3Kernavė 3Kotor 3My Son 3Nikko 3Québec 3Red Fort 3Syracuse 3Troy 3Belfries 2.5Drottningholm 2.5Genbaku Dome 2.5Historic Jeddah 2.5Kinderdijk 2.5Mtskheta 2.5Nice 2.5Pasargadae 2.5Belem 2Bryggen 2Kandy 2Nesvizh 2Schokland 1.5Stoclet House 1.5Reviewed WHS
- Genbaku Dome
- Rietveld Schröderhuis
- Beijing Central Axis
- Lower German Limes
- Summer Palace
- Beemster Polder
- Imperial Palace
- Grand Canal
- Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
- Temple of Heaven
- Eisinga Planetarium
- Colonies of Benevolence
- Silk Roads: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal
- Schokland
- Great Wall
- Dutch Water Defence Lines
- Historic Jeddah
- Hegra
- Turaif Quarter
- Upper Svaneti
- Istanbul
- Bursa and Cumalikizik
- Central Highlands
- Bethlehem
- Struve Geodetic Arc
- Old Rauma
- Bahá’i Holy Places
- Fortress of Suomenlinna
- Seville
- Cordoba
- Granada
- Kew Gardens
- Rhaetian Railway
Visited TWHS
- Amalienborg and its district (T)
- Ancient City of Korykos (T)
- Bahá'í House of Worship at New Delhi (T)
- Bishop's Basilica and Late-Antique Mosaics of Philippopolis, Roman Province of Thrace (T)
- Brooklyn Bridge (T)
- Casablanca, Ville du XXème siécle, carrefour d'influences (T)
- Cathédrale de Saint-Denis (T)
- Central Park (T)
- Chinese Section of the Silk Road (T)
- City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (T)
- Delhi - A Heritage City (T)
- Egyptian Museum in Cairo (T)
- Gdansk - Town of Memory and Freedom (T)
- Haci Bayram Mosque and its Surrounding Area (the Haci Bayram District) (T)
- Harran and Sanliurfa (T)
- Hejaz Railway (T)
- Historic Town of Beypazarı (T)
- Jame' (Congregational) Mosque of Esfahan (T)
- Jerusalem (T)
- Konya-A capital of Seljuk Civilization (T)
- Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (T)
- Lake Tuz Special Environmental Protection Area (SEPA) (T)
- Lalish Temple (T)
- Le Palais de Justice de Bruxelles (T)
- Leuven/Louvain, batiments universitaires, l'héritage de six siècles au sein du centre historique (T)
- Mattanchery Palace, Ernakulam, Kerala (T)
- Monuments of Srirangapatna Island Town (T)
- Møns Klint (T)
- Nasqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab (T)
- Nuruosmaniye Complex (T)
- Orheiul Vechi Archaeological Landscape (T)
- Persepolis and other relevant buildings (T)
- Sarajevo - unique symbol of universal multiculture - continual open city (T)
- Seljuk Caravanserais on the route from Denizli to Dogubeyazit (T)
- Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road (T)
- St. Paul Church, St. Pauls Well and surrounding historic quarters (T)
- Syrian Hajj Road (T)
- System of Fortifications at the Confluence of the Rivers Danube and Váh in Komárno - Komárom (Slova) (T)
- Tbilisi Historic District (T)
- Temples, Shrines and other structures of Ancient Kamakura (T)
- The Ancient Plovdiv (T)
- The Architectural Works of Alvar Aalto - a Human Dimension to the Modern Movement (T)
- The Bodrum Castle (T)
- The Chinese Section of the Silk Roads (T)
- The concept of the lenticular historical town core of Kosice City (T)
- The historic urban site of Počitelj (T)
- The Historical City of Maybod (T)
- The Historical Port City of Izmir (T)
- The Historical Village of Abyaneh (T)
- The Historical-Cultural Axis of Fin, Sialk, Kashan (T)
- The Memorial of Chatam Sófer (T)
- The natural and architectural ensemble of Blagaj (T)
- The Old Town of Jakarta (T)
- The Underground Water Structures in Gaziantep; Livas and Kastels (T)
- The Underground Wineries of Moldova (Cricova and Mileștii Mici) (T)
- Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (T)
- Trakai Historical National Park (T)
- VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Thingvellir National Park (T)
- Yıldız Palace Complex (T)
Reviewed TWHS
Top 50 Missing Sites
- Amritsar
- Andaman Islands
- Bagan
- Band E Amir
- Chernobyl
- City of Herat
- Communist heritage of Volgograd
- Cultural Landscape of Santorini
- Ephesus
- Historic University Towns of Oxford and Cambridge
- Hollywood Studios & Movie Palaces
- Major Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright
- Mecca, Kaaba
- Petrified Forest National Park
- Rainforests of Polynesia
- Tempelhof Airport, Berlin
- The Archaeological Site of Göbeklitepe
- Ur
- Varanasi
- Vers une architecture: Major Buildings of Le Corbusier
Top 200 WHS
- Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
- Laponian Area
- Acropolis
- Butrint
- Ephesus
- Pompei
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Historic Cairo
- Potala Palace
- Borobudur
- Bamiyan Valley
- Pyramids (Memphis)
- Taj Mahal
- Göreme NP and Cappadocia
- Thessalonika
- Bethlehem
- Vatican City
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa)
- Saint Catherine Area
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- Cologne Cathedral
- Churches of Moldavia
- Kremlin and Red Square
- Curonian Spit
- Great Zimbabwe
- Melaka and George Town
- Bali Subak system
- Costiera Amalfitana
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley
- Virunga National Park
- Central University City Campus of the UNAM
- Ancient Thebes
- Nubian Monuments
- Grand Canyon
- Uluru
- Verla Groundwood and Board Mill
- Ancient Kyoto
- Prambanan
- Temple of Heaven
- Selimiye Mosque
- Mexico City and Xochimilco
- West Norwegian Fjords
- Rock Islands
- Great Barrier Reef
- Granada
- Dubrovnik
- Brugge
- Budapest
- Tallinn
- Seville
- Kotor
- Fortress of Suomenlinna
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines
- Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks
- Sagarmatha National Park
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Machu Picchu
- Meteora
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Great Himalayan National Park
- Mount Kenya
- Dolomites
- Simien National Park
- Petra
- Nemrut Dag
- Rapa Nui
- Imperial Palace
- Versailles
- Potsdam
- Amsterdam Canal Ring
- Florence
- St. Petersburg
- Paris, Banks of the Seine
- Mostar
- Grand Place, Brussels
- Riga
- Stonehenge
- Rietveld Schröderhuis
- Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Kenya Lake System
- Victoria Falls
- Lake Baikal
- Okavango Delta
- Plitvice Lakes
- Altamira Cave
- Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc
- Vézère Valley
- Angkor
- Anuradhapura
- Silk Roads: Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor
- Qhapaq Ñan
- Venice and its Lagoon
- Istanbul
- Rome
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Prague
- L'viv
- Cordoba
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka