13.10.14

Uzbekistan - post 4 - Samarkand


Samarkand was known as Markanda, when Alexander the Great conquered it in 329 BC. With Bukhara (see previous post) it’s one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, a leading place on the Silk Road. For a while it was the home of a number of religions – Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, Judaism, Nestorian Christianity… until the Arab conquest during the 8th century, when Islam took over. Around 1220 the Mongols and Genghis Khan arrived and destroyed a lot, but the city was reconstructed and Marco Polo some 50 years later described the city as very large and splendid. In 1370 Timur (Tamerlane) (see previous post) made Samarkand his capital, built a lot and populated it with artists, craftsmen, scientists… from different parts of his empire. After some centuries with changing rulers, the Russians arrived and in 1886 Samarkand became part of the Russian Turkestan. Samarkand was made the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1925 and remained so for a few years until Tashkent took over.

In my preceding post about Shahrisabz I mentioned an – empty – tomb of Timur. Finally he’s buried in the Gur-e Amir (“Tomb of the King” in Persian) mausoleum from the 15th century. Here are also buried two of his sons and the grandson Ulugh Beg, on whom I will revert further down. Soviet archaeologists opened the crypt in 1941 and found the inscription “Whoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible then I”. The same day Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa. 


Anyhow, the building is a masterpiece, wonderfully restored – see also top picture. The building has served as model to the Taj Mahal mausoleum. The tombstones we can see are on top of the crypt, the very dark one is the one of Timur.



The Registan is the major monument complex in Samarkand. It was a public square surrounded by three madrasas (educational institutions) including the Ulugh Beg one from the 15th century.




A number of visitors are of course around…


… as well as the cleaning ladies...


… and it's a place to take nice family and wedding photos.

The Shah-i-Zinda necropolis includes some 20 mausoleums, the oldest ones about a thousand years old. It’s surrounded by more recent, "normal" graves.


An earlier version of Samarkand, Afrosiyob, was to be found on a hill, outside the present city centre. It was occupied between 500 BC and 1220, when Genghis Khan arrived. Today remains only a hilly grass mound, with a lot still to be found underground.


Another fascinating place is the Ulugh Beg Observatory. It was built in the 1420’s by Timur’s grandson, Ulugh Beg, but was destroyed by religious fanatics already in 1449… and rediscovered in 1908. The underground part of an enormous meridian sextant was made visible. As said above, Ulugh Beg was the grandson of Timur and he reigned for a short period before being assassinated (by his own son), but he was especially a great astronomer and mathematician who also knew to gather tens of scientists around him, working in the madrasa mentioned above. Their star catalogue published in 1437 gives very exact positions of about 1000 stars. They calculated the year to last 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 15 seconds, a mistake by only few seconds according today’s measurements. They also determined with perfect exactitude the Earth’s axial tilt to 23.52 degrees, etc. etc…  It took some time before Ulugh Beg’s findings reached more common knowledge in Europe, but later we can see how he has integrated the list of the world’s leading astronomers. On the engraving from 1690, we can see Ulugh Beg (third from the left) among earlier and later leading astronomers.


The Samarkand monuments are less concentrated than in Bukhara. Here we can see where to find them.


Walking around the streets, it’s sometimes difficult to imagine some of the nice living quarters behind the walls.


I can of course not resist from showing photos again from a local food market.

We got an improvised invitation to a local gigantic wedding celebration. A few dance steps made a nice end of the day.


Before leaving Samarkand, some short views of an Orthodox and of a Roman Catholic Church. 


11 comments:

Anonymous said...


Thanks, Peter! What a visual feast!
Your superb photos and that turquoise color...
Maria

rauf said...

Hi Peter, felt sad reading about how knowledge and art is treated by the religious fanatics. Many Buddhist monuments were destroyed by such fanatics in Afghanistan. It is sad to know that even Alexander the great destroyed things he did not like in spite of the fact Aristotle traveled with him in his conquests. When the Americans were bombing Iraq, each bomb was destroying some part of history. These people don't stop for a moment to think about the value of history they are destroying. Thank you for the visual treat and all the information dear Peter.

Virginia said...

Peter, as you know I must stay close to Paris so I so enjoy your trips that you share so much with all of us. V

Studio at the Farm said...

Peter, these are such wonderful photos - thank you! It looks like such a beautiful ancient city, with such exquisite architecture. And that story of the crypt opening is very eerie, with the portentous inscription!
Kathryn

Thérèse said...

Le role des fanatiques ne change malheureusement pas et beaucoup de merveilleux endroits perdent leurs tresors comme la mosquee de Jonas a Mossoul tout dernierement. Les voir et les admirer comme ici. Le voyage continue.

Ruth said...

Samarkand! This is an amazing civilization, and your photos testify.

I think the cleaning ladies are wearing "French blue"! :)

Claudia said...

Fabulous post!

Studio Khnoum said...

Thanks so much for this amazing post! Earlier this year I read "Samarcande" by Amin Maalouf, a book about Samarkand and especially about Omar Khayyam (if you've not read it, I'd recommend it). And now reading your post has really made the city and its history come alive for me!

Alain said...

Les églises paraissent bien modestes à coté de ces somptueuses mosquées que l'on a souvent vu en photos, mais les voir soi-même doit changer bien des choses.

claude said...

Magnifique reportage !
C'est une ville magnifique, ton post complète celui de Marguerite Marie.
J'aime l'architecture, les mosaïques et les couleurs.

Dédé said...

"a few dance steps?"!!!! t'as dansé toute la nuit en buvant de la vodka!