My two days in Jordan in November 2019 gave me two of the most amazing places I have ever been to. Incomparable Petra was one. And the following day, Wadi …
Ilya Burlak
United States of America \ Member since January 2017
#312 179 36 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
- #312
- WHS
- 179
- Tentative Sites
- 36
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 123
-
Ratings
Ratings
World Heritage Sites
- Amsterdam Canal Ring 5.0
- Cordoba 5.0
- Segovia 5.0
- Costiera Amalfitana 5.0
- Paris, Banks of the Seine 5.0
- Florence 5.0
- St. Petersburg 5.0
- Prague 5.0
- Works of Antoni Gaudí 5.0
- Granada 5.0
- Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 5.0
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 5.0
- Ravenna 5.0
- Rome 5.0
- Vienna 5.0
- Siena 5.0
- Petra 5.0
- Brugge 5.0
- Wadi Rum 5.0
- Loire Valley 5.0
- Venice and its Lagoon 5.0
- Kremlin and Red Square 5.0
- West Norwegian Fjords 5.0
- Versailles 4.5
- Kraków 4.5
- Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
- Istanbul 4.5
- Oporto 4.5
- Sintra 4.5
- Villa Romana del Casale 4.5
- Stonehenge and Avebury 4.5
- Bryggen 4.5
- Acropolis 4.5
- Assisi 4.5
- Vatican City 4.5
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
- Seville 4.5
- Pompei 4.5
- San Gimignano 4.5
- Toledo 4.5
- Convent of Christ in Tomar 4.0
- Chichen-Itza 4.0
- Verona 4.0
- Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 4.0
- Tikal National Park 4.0
- Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.0
- Brú na Bóinne 4.0
- Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra 4.0
- L'viv 4.0
- Mount Etna 4.0
- Avignon 4.0
- Potsdam 4.0
- Cologne Cathedral 4.0
- Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 4.0
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4.0
- Budapest 4.0
- Edinburgh 4.0
- Giant's Causeway 4.0
- Gwynedd Castles 4.0
- Old City of Jerusalem 4.0
- Tower of London 4.0
- Westminster 4.0
- Dubrovnik 4.0
- Split 4.0
- Mostar 4.0
- Chartres Cathedral 4.0
- Schönbrunn 4.0
- Alto Douro 4.0
- Urbino 4.0
- Monastery of Alcobaça 4.0
- Monastery of Batalha 4.0
- Kinderdijk 4.0
- Rietveld Schröderhuis 4.0
- Machu Picchu 4.0
- Drottningholm 4.0
- Delos 4.0
- Roskilde Cathedral 4.0
- Botanical Garden, Padua 4.0
- Albi 4.0
- Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
- Arles 3.5
- Pont du Gard 3.5
- El Escurial 3.5
- Tarraco 3.5
- City of Bath 3.5
- Graz 3.5
- Old City of Berne 3.5
- Kronborg Castle 3.5
- Ferrara 3.5
- Pienza 3.5
- Villa d'Este 3.5
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
- Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
- Québec 3.5
- La Fortaleza and San Juan 3.5
- Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
- Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
- Guimarães 3.5
- Kotor 3.5
- Bom Jesus do Monte 3.5
- Arab-Norman Palermo 3.5
- Val di Noto 3.5
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
- Bursa and Cumalikizik 3.5
- Cuzco 3.5
- Maritime Greenwich 3.0
- Kew Gardens 3.0
- Evora 3.0
- Strasbourg 3.0
- Vézère Valley 3.0
- Masada 3.0
- Reims 3.0
- Great Spa Towns of Europe 3.0
- The Porticoes of Bologna 3.0
- Belfries 3.0
- Hollókö 3.0
- University of Coimbra 3.0
- Medici Villas and Gardens 3.0
- Agrigento 3.0
- Syracuse 3.0
- Alcala de Henares 3.0
- The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria 3.0
- Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3.0
- Lima 3.0
- Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin 3.0
- Odesa 3.0
- Modena 3.0
- Statue of Liberty 3.0
- Canterbury 3.0
- Trogir 3.0
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3.0
- Mantua and Sabbioneta 3.0
- Fortifications of Vauban 3.0
- Incense Route of the Negev 3.0
- Arequipa 3.0
- Belem 3.0
- San Marino and Mount Titano 3.0
- Val d'Orcia 3.0
- Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
- Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.5
- Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.5
- Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
- Schokland 2.5
- Beemster Polder 2.5
- Major Town Houses 2.5
- Semmering Railway 2.5
- Pannonhalma 2.5
- Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
- Independence Hall 2.5
- Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
- Biblical Tells 2.5
- Old City of Acre 2.5
- New Lanark 2.5
- Wadden Sea 2.5
- Necropolis of Bet She'arim 2.5
- Bethlehem 2.5
- Minoan Palatial Centres 2.5
- Poblet Monastery 2.5
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5
- The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá 2.5
- Neolithic Orkney 2.5
- Belize Barrier Reef 2.5
- Novodevichy Convent 2.5
- Forth Bridge 2.5
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2.0
- Canal du Midi 2.0
- Bahá’i Holy Places 2.0
- Dutch Water Defence Lines 2.0
- Nice 2.0
- The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2.0
- White City of Tel-Aviv 2.0
- Stecci 2.0
- Van Nellefabriek 1.5
- Stoclet House 1.0
- Mount Carmel Caves 1.0
- Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.0
- Qhapaq Ñan 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
- Network of fortresses of Carcassonne
- 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


Petra (Inscribed)
Petra
There is very little to add to what has already been said about Petra. It is simply one of the most wondrous places I will have ever seen in my …

Ein Karem (On tentative list)
Ein Karem
My visit to Ein Karem was not too extensive in November of 2019. Yad Vashem is nearby, as is Abbell Synagogue of Hadassah Ein Karem with windows painted by Marc …

Makhteshim Country (On tentative list)
Makhteshim Country
If you are driving on Route 40 to Eilat, you will go through Makhtesh Ramon, the largest and most well-known of makhteshim. In Mitzpe Ramon on its northern edge …

Caesarea (On tentative list)
Caesarea
By the time I came to Caesarea, I was already having a mild case of archaeology overload from my time in Israel over two weeks in November of 2019, so …

Old City of Acre (Inscribed)
Old City of Acre
I recognize that Acre did not get a fair shake from me on my trip to Israel in November of 2019. I initially planned to visit it with a guide, …

Bahá’i Holy Places (Inscribed)
Bahá’i Holy Places
The World Heritage inscription of the Baha’i Holy Places emphasizes their deep spiritual value and the tradition of pilgrimage in the Baha’i faith. I am not convinced that it counts …

Masada (Inscribed)
Masada
The legend of Masada - the mass suicide of several thousand members of the Jewish revolt in 73 AD who chose death over slavery when the fortress was about to …

Incense Route of the Negev (Inscribed)
Incense Route of the Negev
I visited Mamshit and Avdat on my trip to Israel in November 2019. Unlike the Biblical Tels, the archaeological sites of the Nabatean towns offer enough of standing remains to …

Bethlehem (Inscribed)
Bethlehem
I arranged for a private half-day guided tour of Bethlehem in November of 2019, which included not just the Church of Nativity, but also a drive through the governorate countryside, …

Jerusalem (On tentative list)
Jerusalem
When in Jerusalem, Mount of Olives and Mount Zion are practically unmissable parts of the itinerary, both for the historic and religious sites situated on them, and in case of …

Old City of Jerusalem (Inscribed)
Old City of Jerusalem
I spent about a day and a half in Jerusalem’s Old City on my trip to Israel in November 2019. That appears to be enough to see all of the …

Biblical Tells (Inscribed)
Biblical Tells
I visited two of the three inscribed tels on my tour around Israel in November of 2019. The biggest and the most popular of them is Megiddo, in the Lower …

The Crusader Fortresses (On tentative list)
The Crusader Fortresses
While in Israel in November of 2019, I stopped by the Jordan Star National Park (Kokhav HaYarden, in Hebrew) which is centered on the Belvoir crusader castle high above the …

Early Synagogues in the Galil… (On tentative list)
Early Synagogues in the Galilee
On my travels around Israel in November of 2019, I stopped by Bet Alpha National Park, which ended up one of my favorite ancient sites in the country (including many …

Necropolis of Bet She'arim (Inscribed)
Necropolis of Bet She'arim
Not many people who are neither students of Jewish history nor WH chasers will prioritize seeing Bet She'arim on their visit to Israel, but it has to be said that …

Mount Carmel Caves (Inscribed)
Mount Carmel Caves
Nahal Me’arot may represent half a million years of human evolution, but they are a clear contender for the title of one of the least impressive paid-entry sights that I …

Degania & Nahalal (On tentative list)
Degania & Nahalal
The original moshav and the earliest kibbutz may have non-trivial meaning to students of sociology, but I can't imagine that Nahalal and/or Degania ever become a WH site. Israel's withdrawal …

White City of Tel-Aviv (Inscribed)
White City of Tel-Aviv
As the WH inscription itself suggests, the highest concentration of examples of Bauhaus Movement architecture (interestingly, the inscription never uses the term "Bauhaus", instead preferring fuzzier "modern") is around Dizengoff …

Nuruosmaniye Complex (On tentative list)
Nuruosmaniye Complex
I made a 15-minute stop at Nuruosmaniye Mosque on my tour around Istanbul in November 2019. The mosque is located outside one of the entrances to the Grand Bazaar, well …