Samarkand has always been cited as Uzbekistan’s most glorious city.
The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study since the 14th century.
One can imagine the height of Samarkand during her glorious days back during the reign of Timur The Great till his grandson Ulugbek (1370 till 1449) as one of the most beautiful ancient city of the world. As patron of the arts, during the next 35 years Timur built Samarkand and populated it with artisans and craftsmen from all of the places he had conquered.
Our first visit in the morning was to the Gur-e- Amir Mausoleum where Timur, two sons and two grandsons, including Ulugbek, lie beneath the surprisingly modest mausoleum.
This stone slab once belonged to Timur The Great. Probably Timur himself was lying the same way as Steve does
Timur The Great
Before we went into the Bibi- Khanym, we stopped by the frenetic, colourful main market Siob Bazaar. A great place for photographers.
Bibi-Khanym Mosque (Persian: مسجد بی بی خانم; Uzbek: Bibi-Xonum machiti) is a famous historical mosque whose name comes from the wife of 14th-century ruler, Timur.
Legend says that Bibi- Khanym, Timur’s Chinese wife, ordered the mosque built as a surprise while he was away. The architect fell madly in love with her and refused to finish the job unless he could give her a kiss. The kiss left a mark and Timur, on seeing it, executed the architect and decreed that women should thereafter wear veils so as not to tempt other men.
Before Bibi- Khanym allows the architect to smooch her, she painted 10eggs with different designs and presented to the architect by saying “All designs on the eggs are different but the inside are the same. Why do you choose to fall for me?”
The architect came back later with 10jars and filled them with drinking water except one with white wine. He placed the eggs into the jar and says “My Queen, these 10jars looked the same with the same egg but only the one jar with wine can satisfy me”
Next, we went to The Registan where the three grand edifices here are among the world’s oldest preserved medressas, anything older having been destroyed by Genghis Khan.
Above pictures taken from top of 15th century minaret
The three medressas are Ulugbek Medressa, Sher Dor Medressa and Tilla- kari Medressa.
The Ulugbek Medressa
Sher Dor (Lion) Medressa, decorated with roaring felines representing Timur's power and strength
The Saw brother's
Samarkand friendly citizen
Overlooking the street from our dinner restaurant
History records Tamerlane as a cold-blooded mass murderer whose armies annihilated some 17 million people, equivalent to 5% of the world's population at that time. He is vilified in India. The precious stones that he sacked from the invasion of Delhi was said to have been used to line the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkhand. He also planned to invade China but he died before the campaign even got under way. History would have been different if he had succeeded.
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