Ilya Burlak Profile

Ilya Burlak
Ilya Burlak.

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. Looking forward to visiting them all after I am able to retire...

USA Last Update 10.07.19 137 WHS Visited 53 Reviews 137 WHS Rated 29 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

  • ●● Cultural
  • ●● Natural
  • ●● Mixed

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

Pombaline Lisbon (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 24-Jun-19

Pombaline Lisbon (T)

It is rather curious that there are two tentative submissions for Lisbon, dated with the same exact day, of which one happens to entirely encompass the other. Pombaline Lisbon is a smaller area within the boundaries of the Historic Lisbon tentative site; even the text of submissions repeats the same facts and claims in many instances. When you are in the heart of the Portuguese capital, you are basically visiting two TWH sites at once, although I find it pretty obvious that they will never become two distinct WH sites.

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Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 24-Jun-19

Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)

Both the description and the OUV justification on the tentative WH submission for Lisbon outline with significant detail the uniqueness of the city history and its importance in the Age of Discoveries. And yet, ask practically anyone who had toured Portugal to name their favorite stops in the country, and it is highly unlikely that the capital would feature even among the top five.

This lukewarm impression is not entirely unfounded. Lisbon is visually muted; the building façades are uniformly flat and, while varying in color and occasionally covered by tiles, are mostly devoid of decorative elements aside from narrow balconies. Signs of neglect or at best of unenthusiastic upkeep are found frequently all over the city

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Belem

Ilya Burlak USA - 21-Jun-19

Belem

I visited the WHS in Belém on a Portuguese national holiday in April, which was obviously not the best day for sightseeing. There is a corollary of Murphy’s Law, formulated by me but surely familiar to others, which states that on a given multi-leg travel itinerary, no matter the preparation, there has to be at least one instance of logistical screw-ups or bad decisions. My visit to Belém was such an instance, comprising not one but three bad decisions in quick succession, the first of which was the pick of the day to devote to this area.

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Convent of Christ in Tomar

Ilya Burlak USA - 19-Jun-19

Convent of Christ in Tomar

The Convent of Christ in Tomar is the oldest in the Portuguese World Heritage monastic triangle (the other two are Alcobaça and Batalha), founded in the 12th century. It has been built and improved upon for several centuries afterwards; the variety of the styles in its construction came to symbolize the opening up of Portugal to different civilizations.

Unlike the other two, the convent does not sit in the town center, but instead is located high on a hill within the walls of a castle. The surrounding castle and some of the parts of the convent are either in ruins or in a state of a degree of disrepair. In that, it projects the least amount of being cared for among the three. Some people may look at it from the angle of the convent being the most antique and authentic.

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Monastery of Batalha

Ilya Burlak USA - 18-Jun-19

Monastery of Batalha

Batalha Monastery is a masterpiece of Gothic and Manueline art. I visited all three WH monastic complexes in the Centro Region of Portugal in April of 2019, and the contrast between Alcobaça and Batalha, specifically, is one of the strongest impressions of seeing these places. Where the cloisters at Alcobaça are restrained, the ones in Batalha are outright exuberant.

There are three main impressive components to the Batalha site, [...]

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 10.07.19
  • Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga
  • Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik
  • Kotor
  • Dubrovnik
  • Split
  • Trogir
  • Mostar
  • Stećci
  • Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings
    • Rating Stats
    Amsterdam Canal Ring 5
    Brugge 5
    Budapest 5
    Cordoba 5
    Costiera Amalfitana 5
    Florence 5
    Granada 5
    Kremlin and Red Square 5
    Loire Valley 5
    Palau de la Musica Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau 5
    Paris, Banks of the Seine 5
    Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 5
    Prague 5
    Ravenna 5
    Rome 5
    Segovia 5
    Siena 5
    St. Petersburg 5
    Venice and its Lagoon 5
    Vienna 5
    West Norwegian Fjords 5
    Works of Antoni Gaudí 5
    Acropolis 4.5
    Assisi 4.5
    Bryggen 4.5
    Cracow 4.5
    Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
    Oporto 4.5
    Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
    Pompei 4.5
    Potsdam 4.5
    San Gimignano 4.5
    Seville 4.5
    Sintra 4.5
    Stonehenge 4.5
    Toledo 4.5
    Vatican City 4.5
    Versailles 4.5
    Albi 4
    Alto Douro 4
    Avignon 4
    Botanical Garden, Padua 4
    Brú na Bóinne 4
    Chartres Cathedral 4
    Chichen-Itza 4
    Cologne Cathedral 4
    Convent of Christ in Tomar 4
    Delos 4
    Drottningholm 4
    Dubrovnik 4
    Edinburgh 4
    Giant's Causeway 4
    Gwynedd Castles 4
    Kinderdijk 4
    Kyiv 4
    L'viv 4
    Monastery of Alcobaça 4
    Monastery of Batalha 4
    Mostar 4
    Rietveld Schröderhuis 4
    Roskilde Cathedral 4
    Schönbrunn 4
    Split 4
    Tower of London 4
    Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4
    Urbino 4
    Verona 4
    Vicenza 4
    Westminster 4
    Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
    Arles 3.5
    City of Bath 3.5
    El Escurial 3.5
    Ferrara 3.5
    Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
    Graz 3.5
    Guimarães 3.5
    Kotor 3.5
    Kronborg Castle 3.5
    La Fortaleza 3.5
    Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
    Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
    Old City of Berne 3.5
    Pienza 3.5
    Pont du Gard 3.5
    Québec 3.5
    Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga 3.5
    Tarraco 3.5
    Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
    Villa d'Este 3.5
    Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
    Alcala de Henares 3
    Belem 3
    Belfries 3
    Canterbury 3
    Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 3
    Evora 3
    Fortifications of Vauban 3
    Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3
    Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3
    Kew Gardens 3
    Mantua and Sabbioneta 3
    Maritime Greenwich 3
    Medici Villas and Gardens 3
    Modena 3
    Reims 3
    San Marino and Mount Titano 3
    Statue of Liberty 3
    Strasbourg 3
    Trogir 3
    University of Coimbra 3
    Val d'Orcia 3
    Vézère Valley 3
    Beemster Polder 2.5
    Forth Bridge 2.5
    Independence Hall 2.5
    Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
    Major Town Houses 2.5
    New Lanark 2.5
    Novodevichy Convent 2.5
    Poblet Monastery 2.5
    Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.5
    Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5
    Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.5
    Schokland 2.5
    Semmering Railway 2.5
    Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
    The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5
    Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
    Wadden Sea 2.5
    Canal du Midi 2
    Defence Line of Amsterdam 2
    Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2
    Stećci 2
    Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.5
    Van Nellefabriek 1.5
    Stoclet House 1

    Reviewed TWHS