Samarkand - even more magnificence

We approach today with a lot of excitement and a little trepidation. We are in Samarkand, a former capital of Uzbekistan and possibly the most well known of the Silk Road cities we will visit.

Thus expectations of what to see are high, the concern might be we have a gruelling day of over the top guiding! However, I am pleased to report it was actually a superb day on both counts.

This is a city of two very different architectural worlds: the older Islamic Samarkand and the later European/Russian Samarkand.
The Russian part developed after the Russian conquest in 1868, particularly from the 1870s onwards. It was laid out with wide, straight streets and large open spaces, contrasting with the narrow lanes of the old city.
University Boulevard (formerly Abramov Boulevard) is a good example. It was created in the 1870s and deliberately planted with rows of trees to provide shade in the hot climate.
The 14th–15th centuries are a completely different period: this was the great Timurid era, when Samarkand became one of the major intellectual, cultural and architectural centres of the Islamic world. This is the period associated with Timur, Ulugh Beg, the Registan, Gur-e-Amir and Shah-i-Zinda. Indeed, right opposite our Hotel is a statue of Uzbekistans great hero - Timur ( Our group leader shares his name 😁).

Our guide for the day though is a very affable young man called Bek. Firstly we visit Gur-e-Amir - this means “Tomb of the King” and is the mausoleum of Amir Timur (Tamerlane). It is now one of the many UNESCO sites around the city.
Originally built around 1403–1404 for Timur’s grandson Muhammad Sultan, because he died early (in battle), but it became the Timurid family mausoleum.
Timur himself was buried here in 1405, along with several of his sons and grandsons, including Ulugh Beg.

It really is superb but the actual mausoleum itself is magnificent. A room with several graves (although the bodies are actually buried in the crypt below), Bek told us 40kg of gold leaf was used to decorate the room.

Timur's final resting place is marked with a single slab of jade, said to be the largest in the world. Brought back by Ulug Beg from Mongolia in 1425, it is inscribed in Arabic calligraphy with the following words: 'When I rise, the World will Tremble!

Then, on the night of 21st June 1941, a team of Russian scientists began to exhume Timur's remains. Within hours Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Many wondered if this was Timur's curse. The scientists found him to be a tall man but lame in the right leg. He had also suffered a wound to the right arm. Analysis complete, Timur's remains were reinterred with full Muslim burial rites, and the Nazis retreated!!

Overall a beautiful place as it also had a Madrassa and harem (Timur had 22 wives.....) and although only partly restored it is still impressive.

Next we moved onto the centerpiece of any visit to Samarkand, Registan Square.

- Registan means “sandy place” and was the heart of medieval Samarkand — a place for markets, public gatherings and official ceremonies. The fact it was all built on sand means today a few of the buildings do lean!
- The square is surrounded by three magnificent Islamic madrasas:
Ulugh Beg Madrasa – 3 years to build
Sher-Dor Madrasa – 17 years to build
Tilya-Kori Madrasa – 14 years to build
Their huge blue-tiled façades, domes and towering entrances create the famous ensemble. The most impressive is the golden mosque of the Tilya-Kori Madrassa. It actually used to be a hotel/caravanserai but was converted and the fantastic mosque actually used 60kg of gold in its construction!
- The original Registan developed under Timur and especially his grandson Ulugh Beg, when Samarkand was a major centre of science, learning and Islamic culture.
- The buildings we see today span roughly two centuries, so they aren't all from Timur's own time - and obviously have gone through some renovations too.

Next we had a quick stop outside the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. This was built by a (childless) wife of Timur. Although it's ruined now it used to be the biggest mosque in central Asia (they all say that though 😉). Then a short wander through a nearby bazaar and lunch.

We voted the only activity after lunch was to visit a nearby craft village. The main reason was to see some traditional Samarkand paper production.

Sure enough various demonstrators took us through this process:
The thinnest sprouts of the Central Asian mulberry are cleaned and the bark is removed. It is then soaked and after long-term drying boiled for several hours. The fibrous mass is carefully crumbled up by wooden sticks and the material obtained is dissolved in water. Then it is passed through a sieve; sheets are carefully wrung out and dried in the sun. To complete, the surface of the paper is polished by using a seashell pressing the paper over smooth marble.
Very similar to making rice paper in Cambodia I thought 🤣🤣🤣

We also saw oil making from sesame, cotton, linseed and melon seeds. 5kg of each is ground up for 7 hours to get 5 litres of oil. Just ready for a plov!

We also visited a pottery, saw a demonstration and resisted the temptation to buy 😂.

An excellent day was rounded off with a trip to a dance theatre performance and dinner at a Russian restaurant.

Think it's fair to say we like Samarkand.Read more