OLD RAUMA (Finland)
The old central area of Rauma, Finland, is built almost entirely of wood. Although it suffered fires in 1640 and 1682, it still boasts unique wooden architecture (the oldest buildings date from the 18th century) and a well-preserved medieval town layout. There are about 600 buildings (including smaller ones like sheds) and about 800 people.
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SAMMALLAHDENMAKI (Finland)
In 1878, a catalogue of ancient sites mentioned the pleasantly-named Sammallahdenmaki, in SW Finland, 3 hours by car from Helsinki. It's a Bronze Age burial site with 33 granite burial cairns displaying funerary practices and socio-religious structures of northern Europe from more than three millennia ago. Only 8 have been excavated, 6 Bronze Age and 2 early Iron Age.
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THE STRUVE GEODETIC ARC (Norway to the Ukraine - 10 countries)
From 1816 to 1855 German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve triangulated the locations of 265 main station points along a single meridian of the earth from Norway to the Ukraine. Stretching through 10 countries for over 1,750 miles, this act of international scientific cooperation helped establish the exact size and shape of the earth.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
