The historic center of the Pienza is inscribed on UNESCO List because it occupies a seminal position in the development of the concept of the planned “ideal town”, but you …
Ilya Burlak
United States of America \ Member since January 2017
#319 179 37 5
I only started prioritizing visiting World Heritage sites a few years ago, and with my limited US-based corporate-warrior time-off allocation and family obligations, I can only add a handful to a dozen in any given year. I look forward to visiting them all after I retire...
Check out my website: Burlaki.com
Recent Visits
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01July 11, 2025Greece: Ancient Towers of the Aegean Sea
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25Dec. 4, 2024Hungary: Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System, Hollókö, Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom ...
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51May 14, 2024Peru: Arequipa, Cuzco, Lima ...
Top 10 Missing
About Ilya Burlak
- Member since
- January 2017
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
Visits
- Rank
- #319
- WHS
- 179
- Tentative Sites
- 37
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 123
-
Ratings
Ratings
World Heritage Sites
- Cordoba 5.0
- Works of Antoni Gaudí 5.0
- Amsterdam Canal Ring 5.0
- Florence 5.0
- Wadi Rum 5.0
- Brugge 5.0
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 5.0
- Ravenna 5.0
- Siena 5.0
- Loire Valley 5.0
- Rome 5.0
- Costiera Amalfitana 5.0
- Paris, Banks of the Seine 5.0
- Kremlin and Red Square 5.0
- Venice and its Lagoon 5.0
- West Norwegian Fjords 5.0
- Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 5.0
- Vienna 5.0
- Petra 5.0
- Prague 5.0
- Granada 5.0
- St. Petersburg 5.0
- Segovia 5.0
- Kraków 4.5
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
- Acropolis 4.5
- Stonehenge and Avebury 4.5
- Bryggen 4.5
- Assisi 4.5
- Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
- Vatican City 4.5
- Istanbul 4.5
- Sintra 4.5
- Seville 4.5
- Villa Romana del Casale 4.5
- Pompei 4.5
- Oporto 4.5
- San Gimignano 4.5
- Versailles 4.5
- Toledo 4.5
- Brú na Bóinne 4.0
- Drottningholm 4.0
- Old City of Jerusalem 4.0
- Kinderdijk 4.0
- Cologne Cathedral 4.0
- Tikal National Park 4.0
- Schönbrunn 4.0
- Rietveld Schröderhuis 4.0
- Potsdam 4.0
- Verona 4.0
- Roskilde Cathedral 4.0
- Giant's Causeway 4.0
- Gwynedd Castles 4.0
- Westminster 4.0
- Tower of London 4.0
- Edinburgh 4.0
- Delos 4.0
- Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra 4.0
- L'viv 4.0
- Machu Picchu 4.0
- Chichen-Itza 4.0
- Monastery of Batalha 4.0
- Convent of Christ in Tomar 4.0
- Monastery of Alcobaça 4.0
- Dubrovnik 4.0
- Split 4.0
- Budapest 4.0
- Chartres Cathedral 4.0
- Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 4.0
- Botanical Garden, Padua 4.0
- Urbino 4.0
- Avignon 4.0
- Alto Douro 4.0
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4.0
- Mostar 4.0
- Albi 4.0
- Mount Etna 4.0
- Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.0
- Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 4.0
- Ferrara 3.5
- Bursa and Cumalikizik 3.5
- Pienza 3.5
- Villa d'Este 3.5
- City of Bath 3.5
- Québec 3.5
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
- Bom Jesus do Monte 3.5
- Graz 3.5
- Kotor 3.5
- Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
- Pont du Gard 3.5
- Cuzco 3.5
- Old City of Berne 3.5
- Kronborg Castle 3.5
- El Escurial 3.5
- Tarraco 3.5
- Arles 3.5
- Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
- Arab-Norman Palermo 3.5
- Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
- La Fortaleza and San Juan 3.5
- Val di Noto 3.5
- Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
- Guimarães 3.5
- Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin 3.0
- Evora 3.0
- Trogir 3.0
- Hollókö 3.0
- Vézère Valley 3.0
- Strasbourg 3.0
- Statue of Liberty 3.0
- Reims 3.0
- Great Spa Towns of Europe 3.0
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3.0
- Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3.0
- Modena 3.0
- Agrigento 3.0
- Belem 3.0
- Masada 3.0
- The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria 3.0
- The Porticoes of Bologna 3.0
- Kew Gardens 3.0
- Val d'Orcia 3.0
- Incense Route of the Negev 3.0
- Syracuse 3.0
- Fortifications of Vauban 3.0
- Mantua and Sabbioneta 3.0
- San Marino and Mount Titano 3.0
- Arequipa 3.0
- Belfries 3.0
- Canterbury 3.0
- Odesa 3.0
- Maritime Greenwich 3.0
- Alcala de Henares 3.0
- University of Coimbra 3.0
- Medici Villas and Gardens 3.0
- Lima 3.0
- Neolithic Orkney 2.5
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5
- Bethlehem 2.5
- Belize Barrier Reef 2.5
- Poblet Monastery 2.5
- Old City of Acre 2.5
- Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.5
- Beemster Polder 2.5
- New Lanark 2.5
- Independence Hall 2.5
- The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá 2.5
- Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
- Novodevichy Convent 2.5
- Schokland 2.5
- Biblical Tells 2.5
- Forth Bridge 2.5
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5
- Necropolis of Bet She'arim 2.5
- Wadden Sea 2.5
- Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.5
- Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
- Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
- Pannonhalma 2.5
- Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
- Major Town Houses 2.5
- Minoan Palatial Centres 2.5
- Semmering Railway 2.5
- Dutch Water Defence Lines 2.0
- Canal du Midi 2.0
- Stecci 2.0
- Nice 2.0
- Bahá’i Holy Places 2.0
- White City of Tel-Aviv 2.0
- The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2.0
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2.0
- Van Nellefabriek 1.5
- Stoclet House 1.0
- Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.0
- Qhapaq Ñan 1.0
- Mount Carmel Caves 1.0
Tentative Sites
- Ellis Island
- Central Park
- Nuruosmaniye Complex
- Nuragic monuments of Sardinia
- Early Synagogues in the Galilee
- Iznik
- Salt Mines of Maras
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Orvieto
- Ripa Pannonica in Hungary
- Jerusalem
- Volterra
- Zadar - Episcopal complex
- Centre ancien de Sarlat
- Carcassonne fortresses
- Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece
- Early Chicago Skyscrapers
- Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade
- Ödön Lechner's independent pre-modern architecture
- Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System
- Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád
- Civil Rights Movement Sites
- Ancient Towers of the Aegean Sea
- Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom
- Pombaline Lisbon
- Ancient Greek Theatres
- Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex
- Caesarea
- Makhteshim Country
- Ein Karem
- Degania & Nahalal
- The Crusader Fortresses
- Amalienborg and its district
- The Karlstejn Castle
- Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise
- Stolac
- The archeological site of Tanais
- 179 37
- Locations
- 0
- Zones
- 0
Reviews by Ilya Burlak
Reims (Inscribed)
Reims
My visit to Reims took place nearly a decade ago, but the buildings recognized on this site's inscription have stood for centuries, so I expect that my impressions remain relevant.
…
Tarraco (Inscribed)
Tarraco
An attractive city to the south-west of Barcelona, Tarragona’s claim to UNESCO recognition revolves around its Roman past, as evidenced by a significant number of architectural remains in and around …
Minoan Palatial Centres (Inscribed)
Minoan Palatial Centres
During a stay on Crete in the summer of 2018 I visited two of the properties of this serial site. One of them, Knossos Palace is the most visited tourist …
Residences of the Royal House… (Inscribed)
Residences of the Royal House of Savoy
While in Turin for a single day in November of 2018, I managed to see Palazzo Madama, walked around Zona di Commando, and stopped by Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Carignano …
The city of Bergamo (Removed from tentat…)
The city of Bergamo
Bergamo is a kind of town that invariably leaves a positive impression on any visitor without tipping the scales on the exceptional side. I visited it in November of 2018. …
Venetian Works of Defence (Inscribed)
Venetian Works of Defence
I visited Bergamo in November of 2018 and Zadar and Kotor in July of 2019, each time focusing on the respective city as a whole. I frequently profess my admiration …
Santa Maria delle Grazie (Inscribed)
Santa Maria delle Grazie
The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is a curious specimen on the World Heritage list. It is not altogether unremarkable, but also not in any sense surpassing to warrant …
Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra (Inscribed)
Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra
I have been to Kiev many times in my childhood, but those visits never included any sightseeing. Decades later, I found myself in Kiev on a business trip. It was …
Assisi (Inscribed)
Assisi
I visited Assisi in the summer of 2014. At that point, the town easily vaulted towards the top of my personal list of the most impressive day-trip destinations, having hosted …
Mycenae and Tiryns (Inscribed)
Mycenae and Tiryns
I visited Mycenae in July 2018. The city was the center of the Late Bronze Age civilization that was the main precursor to the classical Ancient Greek culture. Mycenaeans’ period …
Archaeological Site of Delphi (Inscribed)
Archaeological Site of Delphi
Delphi was the sacred center of the world for the Ancient Greeks and undoubtedly a remarkable achievement of purposeful architecture, a sanctuary built into the challenging landscape to inspire awe …
Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea… (Inscribed)
Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios
Of the three geographically dispersed monasteries inscribed together as this WH site, we could only fit one into our Greek itinerary in July of 2018, and our choice fell on …
Acropolis (Inscribed)
Acropolis
I always find myself awed by grandiose edifices. Beholding the Parthenon up close, unfailingly grandiose despite its ruined state blended with a construction site, made the visit to Acropolis instantly …
Delos (Inscribed)
Delos
Delos archaeological site is vast and is among the most impressive of its kind. Ancient ruins everywhere require a non-trivial application of imagination to see beyond the piles of stones …
The Architectural Work of Le … (Inscribed)
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
I saw Villa Savoye in June of 2018. The villa is considered a prime example of Le Corbusier's architectural manifesto with all five principles on display: pilotis, free façade …
Vézère Valley (Inscribed)
Vézère Valley
If you are spending time in the department of Dordogne, it is possible with the right planning to see 3-to-5 locations of this WH site in one day.
My …
Works of Antoni Gaudí (Inscribed)
Works of Antoni Gaudí
I have made multiple visits to the five accessible Gaudí properties in Barcelona over the course of the last 15 years. They are all worth visiting. My personal ranking order …
Canal du Midi (Inscribed)
Canal du Midi
One could argue that you can do Canal du Midi justice only by renting a boat to navigate a portion of it. On the other hand, the canal itself is …
Routes of Santiago de Compost… (Inscribed)
Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
I visited two properties that are part of this serial site in August of 2017 and three more in June of 2018.
In an otherwise nondescript Rabastens, Notre-Dame-du-Bourg may …