Samarkand

Samarkand - Crossroad of Cultures is an over 3,000 years old city located at the crossing of trade routes in Central Asia. It became prosperous as an important centre of silk trade in the 2nd century. During the 14th century, it emerged again under the rule of Timur the Lame. Its Timurid architecture became a worldwide influence in Islamic art and architecture.

The designated area covers three parts of the city:
- the archeological site of Afrosiab (2nd century BCE - 13th century CE)
- the medieval Timurid city (14-19th century)
- the 19th century European quarter

Year	Decision	Comments
2012	Name change	From "Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures" to "Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures"
2008	Reinforced Monitoring	Threatened by new roads and buildings
2001	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription
1991	Referred	Bureau - Awaiting USSR to propose a new site based only on Muslim monuments

Visit May 2010

Samarkand is the site of the iconic Registan - the "sandy place" surrounded on three sides by Timurid madrasahs. You can sit on a bench on the fourth, open, side and take it all in: the turquoise tiles, the slender minarets, the imposing facades. The place attracts a lot of Uzbek tourists too. The madressahs can best be admired from the outside, as their interiors are completely taken over by the souvenir business. Only the middle (Tilya Kori) is worth a visit for its completely gilded interior including golden mosaics.

Somehow it had escaped my attention before that Samarkand has several other grand monuments than this Registan. Probably the best sight of my whole Uzbek/Turkmen tour was Shah-i-Zinda. This is a mausoleum complex, where the tombs are housed in the most ornamental little buildings. They feature all the mosaics and glazed tiles Samarkand is famous for, but on a more touchable scale than at the Registan. The place is also full of Uzbek pilgrims and daytrippers, creating a lively atmosphere (imagine visiting this wonderful site on your way from grocery shopping - I saw many Uzbeks carrying their round breads with them).

The tomb of Timur (Gur Emir Mausoleum) is the third site worth mentioning. On the inside it has the feel of an European cathedral, with the tombs in the middle under a cupola and older Uzbeks praying around it.

There are other notable monuments, for example the Ulughbek Observatory which now is closed for renovation. Besides the Timurid monuments the nomination also covers the archeological site of Afrosiab and the 19th century Russian quarter. Samarkand as a whole is very much a Russified city without much "Silk Route" atmosphere.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

Frederik Dawson (Netherlands):

Samarkand is the reason why I decided to visit Uzbekistan, when I booked the ticket at Uzbekistan Airline office; I saw the poster of the very beautiful Registan so I asked the travel agent that should I trust the poster? The agent immediately said “You will see the better one at the real place!” After that Samarkand became the paradigm of my Uzbekistan itinerary. I arrived Samarkand in the evening, the traffic congestion greeted me with unexpectedly surprised, after a peaceful week in Khiva and Bukhara, Samarkand really reminded the chaotic life of modern urban!

I started my city tour at the Gur Amir Mausoleum, the resting place of Tamerlane; for exterior the beautiful blue mosaic dome was just amazing, and for interior the golden mosaics inside the building were just breathtaking, and in my opinion one of the most beautiful Muslim mausoleum I’ve ever seen. After the mausoleum, I went to Ulughbek Observatory, a ruin of very impressive ancient observatory, its museum was nice; however, many insightful information from my guide made me question the accuracy of the exhibition and object displayed. Then I continued my trip to see the famous Registan. With high hope and excitement, I found all magnificent three buildings complex to be exactly what I wanted to see, there facades were just magnificent with bright and colorful mosaics. However I was deeply disappointed with the bad status of the interior mosaics and glazed tiles inside the courtyard, seem that Uzbek used their whole money to maintain the outside of the buildings, except the gilded ceiling of Tilya-Kori madrassah was truly outstanding and truly one of my favorite of Registan complex. Then I saw Bibi-Khanym Mosque, claimed to be the largest mosque in the ancient time. Its gigantic size and tiny details of mosaic were impressive. Later I went to Shah-i-Zinda complex, the royal necropolis of Tamerlane family. The complex was just truly beautiful with beautiful mosaic art that maybe better than the Registan. Also with its modest size, I could see more details of mosaic and glazed tiles easier than other places and that made me really loved Shah-i-Zinda for its superb quality of art.

In my travel life, I never seen a place that so colorful with mosaic and glazed tiles that similar with Samarkand before except the famous Gaudi’s work in Barcelona and the royal temples of Bangkok, but they were totally different arts and should not be compared. Also its history behind were also interesting with countless of legends of the Silk Road and Tumarid dynasty. For me, Samarkand was truly the world class site and one of the most enchanting UNESCO world heritage sites I ever visited.

Date posted: December 2011

Paul Tanner (UK):

Samarkand is the largest of the WHS cities of Uzbekistan (c half million population). Possibly as a result it lacks much of the “eastern atmosphere” which can be sensed in Bukhara or Khiva – instead its glories consist primarily of 4 architectural wonders, any one of which on its own would justify a WHS inscription
a. The Registan ensemble
b. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque
c. The Shahr-i-Zindah tombs
d. The Guri Amir Mausoleum

Even if you are not a great lover of Islamic architecture these are all well worth seeing/experiencing. If you go with a guide beware of the “shared ticket price” scam! In theory you are allowed to return to any of these buildings several times during the day of the ticket – but you need to show the ticket! However you may find that the guide and ladies on the gate do not issue a ticket (many tourists will not ask or care) and share the money the guide has available. We weren’t able to persuade the ladies to issue a ticket but we did make sure that they would let us in again later that day!

There are other buildings worth seeing too – I particularly liked the Ulughbek Observatory with its 30mtr astrolabe partially set deep into the ground – an impressive example of the intellectual and scientific credentials of this part of the world before the European Renaissance. This is in fact on Uzbekistan’s Tentative List

Samarkand is undoubtedly one of the great “destinations” of the world.

Date posted: June 2005

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