Uzbekistan

Samarkand

If you see Samarkand only once, you will be enchained by its magic forever! Modern Samarkand is located in the Valley of Zarafshan River on the altitude of 750m above the sea level. Being the city of legends with the history of 25 centuries, it had been destroyed by Alexander the Great, the Arabs, Gengiz Khan and many other conquerors, but rose each time from the ashes, like a Phoenix. Even nowadays the monuments of the Temurid's Dynasty strike by their size, beautiful mosaic symmetry of architectural forms. Samarkand's culture has developed and intermingled with those of Iran, India, Mongolia, China and other countries. The most interesting part of Samarkand is the old town - the largest market place where you can find treasures of the Orient. Nowadays Samarkand is one of the industrial and cultural center of Uzbekistan.

Registan Square
The Registan ensemble at the heart of Samarkand, restored to its original splendor, ranks first in Central Asia and among the greatest of all the grandiose and magnificent works of the Islamic world. Its meaning, sandy place, after a stream that washed sand over the earth, does little justice to the architectural and decorative wealth on show. Here lay the crossroads of Amir Temur's capital, where six arteries met under a domed bazaar, yet his grandson Ulug Bek envisaged a more cultural and political role. From 1417-20 he built a beautiful madrassah (Islamic College) on the west side of the square. The square itself was the scene of military parades and public executions. To the end of XVI C. many buildings on the Registan Square came into decline and in XVII C under the order of Samarkand ruler Yalangtush Bakhodur the rebuilding work began. Two more constructions Shir-Dor medressah (1619-1631) and Tilla-Kari medressah (1641-1660) were built and created a marvelous ensemble, which we can see nowadays.

Shakhi Zinda complex
One of the holiest sites in Samarkand is a complex consists of 22 mausoleums climbing back in time. In the 14th and 15th centuries, it developed into an architectural testing ground whose celebration of ceramic art, unrivalled in Central Asia. The name, which means Tomb of the Living King, refers to its original, legend traces its history back to 676, when Kussam-Ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, arrived to convert Zoroastrian Sogdiana to Islam. The success of his preaching provoked a gang of fire-worshippers to behead him whilst he was at prayer. It appears the Arabs established Kussam into a cult of Shakhi Zinda (The Living King) by adapting a pre-Islamic mythical ruler, maybe Afrosiab himself, reigning beyond beneath the earth. The Mongol conquest flattened the surrounding complex but left Kussam's grave alone, as traveler Ibn-Battuta reported in 1333. The Timuruid aristocracy continued the tradition of building mausoleums near the sacred site, often on earlier remains. These works display the creative wealth of the empire in surprising harmony, for no mausoleum repeats another.

Ulug Bek Observatory.
In the foothills overlooking Afrosiab to the northeast are the remains of a remarkable 15th century observatory, the crowning achievement and path to disaster of Amir Temur grandson, astronomer-king Ulug Bek. Today visitors can view his discovery, the underground section of a vast meridian arc, ignored by the fanatics who destroyed the building in 1449. It was the largest 90 degrees quadrant the world had ever seen, though it is called a sextant as only 60 degrees were used. Deeply embedded in the rock to lessen seismic disturbance, the surviving 11 meter (36 foot) are sweeps upwards in two marble parapets cut with minute and degree calibrations for the astrolabe that ran its length. A portal and vault at the center of the observatory's foundations now cover the sextant. A memorial museum details the careers of Amir Temur and his grandson. Ulug Bek's scientific success, the culmination of a Central Asian tradition including al-Khorazmi, al-Beruni and Avicenna, is set along side the political failures that cost him his life.

Bibi Khanum Mosque
Flush with plunder from the sack of Delhi in December 1398, Amir Temur vowed to create a mosque without parallel in grandeur or decor throughout the Muslim world. Despite the ravages of time on one of his foremost expressions of power, the remains still captivate the visitor by their fantastic scale and romantic legend. The best slave-artisans in the realm labored to realize the emperor's plan. In October 1404, Spanish ambassador Clavijo judged it "the noblest of all", yet Amir Temur, believing the portal too low, had it rebuilt at great haste. Ornamentation was suitably magnificent - carved marble and terracotta , glazed mosaic in multiple form, blue-gold frescoes and gilt papier-mache. Today all three mosque domes have been reappeared, retiled in turquoise-blue on yellow-brown brick, the classical Samarkand contrast of sky and earth. At the center of the courtyard stands a great lectern of gray Mongolian marble donated by Ulug Bek. Once it held the onemetre-square Osman Koran, a seventh-century treasure brought here by Amir Temur.

Gur Amir Mausoleum.
Between 1400 and 1401 favorite son of Amir Temur, Mukhammad Sultan, erected a madrassah and khanagha complex here. Mokhammed's death in 1403 prompted Amir Temur to complete the ensemble with a mausoleum for him and was soon laid to rest beside his grandson and followed by descendents down to Ulug Bek, whose presence has spurred recent restoration. Amir Temur lies as requested at the feet of his spiritual adviser Mir Sayid Barakah. In clockwise order are Mokhammad Sultan, Ulug Beg, Timur's sons Shakhrukh and Miranshakh, and two unnamed children. The horsehair pole marks the grave of a saint person, whose remains were discovered when the mausoleum was under construction. The emblem was a common sight on the hard pilgrimage to Mecca. The tombstones are actually cenotaphs matching the layout of the real graves in the vaulted crypt below, which was closed for women.

State Museum of the History, Architecture and Art of Uzbekistan.
The museum was set up at the Governor-general's office in 1874 thanks to the efforts of native intelligentsia. The Museum was officially opened in 1896. The Museum of History and Art is a possession of more than 200 000 items reflecting the rich and distinctive culture of Uzbek people at all stages of historical development. Among them are archeological collection including ceramics, metal, small-scale and monumental sculptures, found during excavation of ancient towns in Uzbekistan. Unique are the collections of embroidery, scull-caps, garments, gold-embroidered articles, jewelry and metal used for decorative purposes.

Imam Al-Bukhary Complex
In 30km from Samarkand is one of Islam's holier spots the very modest mausoleum of Ismail Al Bukhary (810 - 870). He was one of the greatest Moslem scholars of the hadith, the collected acts & sayings of prophet Muhammad. His main work is regarded by Sunni Muslims as second only to the Quran as a source of religious law. Following his refusal to give special tutoring to Bukhara's governor and his children, he was forced into exile here. The mausoleum was completely reconstructed to 1225 anniversary of Imam Al Bukhary.

Main bazaar.
Around and behind Bibi Khanum Mosque is the best live show in town, the frenetic, colorful main farmers' market, so called Siab Market. Besides cloth sacks of exotic spices, the famous Samarkand bread fills barrows and pushchairs. These roundels of unleavened bread include some 20 varieties with individual pattern and name. It is always full of dresses and shawls, hats and turbans of every nationality, and great for photographers, souvenir hunters and vegetarians, especially in the early morning and on Saturday and Sunday.

Afrasiab
Afrasiab - the ancient Samarkand occupies the territory of 220 hectares. The excavations are carried on in Afrasiab from 1894, but careful investigations were started only since 1958. The Institute of Archeology investigates this ancient city today. Murals, hidden treasures of coins, ceramic water pipes which is a part of ancient irrigation system was discovered in the site. Afrasiab is a state reservation. Most archeological findings are exhibited in the museum of city foundation in Afrasiab. After the last archaeological excavations it was found the huge mosque dates back to the VIII C. AD. It was one of the first Arabian mosque in Samarkand. The first settlements arose here nearly in the VIII C. BC. These were the nomadic tribes that were settled here because of its convenient geographical and agricultural position. They were the first representative of Zoroastrians here and two centuries later when the city Samarkand had already been found the first empire of Akhemenides dynasty appeared at this territory. First this dynasty was considered to be the founder of the city Samarkand but after the last archeological excavation it was found out that the city appeared at least one century earlier with the first local farmers and was concurred by the Akhemenides later. So we can define the age of Samarkand it is 2700. During the period form the time of the city appeared and till the IV C. BC the representatives of several religions inhabited this area.

Kuk-tepa
The ancient settlement Kuk-Tepa is situated nearly 32 km from Samarkand near the small city Chelek. The first settlement appeared here in the VIII C. BC and was formed by nomadic tribes inhabited this area. In the VII-VI C. BC there were built two platforms of the uncooked bricks with the size of 60x30x10 and loaf shaped that were the citadels of the representatives of Akhemenids' empire. It was the construction consisted of two buildings one of which was the Cathedral of the Zoroastrians partly destroyed by the local inhabitants and another one was the Temple which is the main object of this excavation. The height of this platform is 5 m in which in the I-III C. AD the last representatives of the Skiffs buried one of their queen. The grave of this queen is a deep chamber with several rooms dig in this platform. Now grave of the Skiff's queen is going to be preserved and taken to the museum for the demonstration to the tourists. Next year the French expedition, which discovered this object will published the catalogue about this excavation. The settlement Kuk-Tepa became famous also after the loaf-shape bricks were found on the level of VII C. BC according to that Samarkand was dated back to that age because the same kind of bricks were found on the Afrasiab hills in Samarkand.

Durmen burial ground
Durmen - the remnants of a once large Sogdian town is situated 19 km south from Samarkand. By the 9th century all that remained was a large non-fortified settlement. Towards the end of the 11th century the life abruptly comes to a decline there. Either then, somewhat later, a strange population appears in the area and left behind it a burial ground with burial rituals unusual for that time, differing greatly from the well-known Muslim cemeteries. For the greater part people were buried there in undermining graves on the mounds surrounding the settlement. Some of the dead were buried in wooden coffins, others in the litters from the bark of trees, in two cases there were little "pillows" from semi-burn clay placed beneath the heads. One warrior was dressed in clothing of brocade and armor. Unfortunately, both the grave and the secret hiding place in its walls were looted soon after the burial. A burial place for horses was found next to the cemetery. That, and the birch bark quiver in one the poor graves indicate that the people who had settled there came from the steppes. Judging by the bronze mirror found in a woman's sepulcher they may have been from the East. Possibly they were Christians, because of a cross in one of the graves. The burial ground relates to the end of the 11th - and beginning of the 12th century and testifies to the infiltration of a new wave of the Turkic population into the native Sogdian lands.