Plan: Historical cities of uzbekistan

HISTORICAL CITIES OF UZBEKISTAN
PLAN:

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   Historical cities of uzbekistan
   
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   Visiting the historical cities of Uzbekistan
   
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   O'zbekistonning eng yaxshi tarixiy diqqatga sazovor joylari va ularni ziyorat qilish usullari
   
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   Samarkand
   

Introduction - The historical monuments of Uzbekistan have attracted Western travellers for centuries.From Marco Polo to the Great Game spies, Uzbekistan was always at the heart of the intrigue, its cities the routers of the great interchange between East and West that we call the Silk Road.But for most of that time it was only the hardiest of travellers risking life and limb who managed to see the great jewels connecting the caravan roads. Since the end of the Soviet Union, however, Uzbekistan has opened its doors to visitors.Here's a rundown on Uzbekistan's top historical cities, and our essential guide on how to visit them.

The Kalta Minor in Khiva
Visiting the historical cities of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan's best historical sights and how to visit them
Samarkand
Historical Samarkand is often the first stop for visitors to Uzbekistan – with the exception of capital Tashkent which serves as a transport hub. The high-speed train from Tashkent to Samarkand takes two hours, halving the time it takes to drive between the two cities.
Samarkand was the capital of Amir Timur, a 14th-century master general who built an empire spanning Central Asia and Persia, killing 17 million people in the process. He was also a patron of the arts, capturing artists along the way to build him a legacy in stone. The pitiful dead have been forgotten, but the magnificent city still stands.

Samarkand's Registan square


Exploring Samarkand's Registan and its madrasahs
The Registan complex of mosque and madrasahs (Islamic schools), decorated with ceramic tiles and presided over by an obviously un-Islamic lion, are at the heart of Samarkand. From here, you can branch out to the enormous Bibi Khanum mosque, or instead visit the striking Gur Emir mausoleum of Timur himself, which would inspire the Taj Mahal, built by Timur’s descendants of the Mughal dynasty.
The Registan was medieval Samarkand’s commercial centre. In the 15th century, under the auspices of Ulugh Beg, the astronomer-king and Timur’s grandson, it became Samarkand’s educational centre as well, when he built a splendid madrasah (from the viewing platform, it’s the building to your left) where he taught astronomy. At the time, the Ulugh Beg madrasah was known as one of the best universities of the Muslim world.
Ulugh Beg’s size is balanced by the sheer elegance of its design and ceramic tile coating. A yellow-brown background highlights glazed green, turquoise, yellow and blue. Mosaic and majolica panels shine with floral motifs and Kufic calligraphy. The highlight is a muqarnas (a vaulted form of Islamic architecture) honeycomb decoration that dazzles with its mathematical complexity.
"Never in all the centuries will an artist, thought's acrobat, even with the bow of phantasy, scale the forbidden peaks of this minaret," reads one of the inscriptions extolling the opposite Shir Dor (having tigers) madrasah, built by Governor Yalangtush between 1619 and 1636. His architects strove to match Ulugh Beg in scale and nobility, though Koranic prohibition against symmetry forbade an exact mirror-image.
The decoration of Shir Dor is not as refined as that on the Ulugh Beg madrasah of the 15th century - the golden age of Timurid architecture. Yet the harmony of large and small rooms, exquisite mosaic decor, monumentality and efficient symmetry all place the structure among the finest architectural monuments of Samarkand.

The Ulugh Beg Observatory Built in the 1420s by astronomer Ulugh Beg it is considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world. It’s possible to climb Ulugh Beg’s minaret for exhilarating views over Samarkand. The best time is early in the morning – be prepared to surreptitiously offer guards a small fee if you want to do so.
The lions and human-faced sun that guard the portal are a striking return to pre-Islamic Zoroastrian symbolism, reminiscent of the Divanbegi madrassah in Bukhara.
To enclose the square in pleasing harmony, Yalangtush had a third madrasah built with a stretched facade of 75 metres. The Bibi Khanum mosque was in ruins by this time, and Tillya Kari was to become the city’s main mosque. Its name means “the gilded one” and besides a lavish mosaic feast matching the colours of the Shir Dor, its magnificent interior is swathed in gold leaf.