The portal of the Aksaray Palace is the only portal of Amir Timur’s grand residence in the city of Shakhrisabz, built in the 14-15th centuries and currently included in the UNESCO list.
From history it is known that in 1570 the Bukharian emir Abdullah Khan II tried to destroy the palace of the former ruler, but fortunately, to this day his majestic portal built by the architect Muhammad Yusuf Tabrizi in 1395-1396 years is preserved, as evidenced by the preserved inscription in the central part of its cladding.
The architectural finish of the portal, combining a wide variety of styles and colors, using a mosaic of dark and light blue hues, gives the portal a special softness and a sense of mystery. Special attention also deserves a luxurious leaf ornament, which contains calligraphic inscriptions from the Koran.
Mausoleum of Gumbazi-Seyidan.
The Mausoleum of Gumbazi-Seyidan together with the mosque with the blue dome Kok Gumbaz and the mausoleum of ShamsiddinKulyala is part of the Dorut-Tillavat ensemble.
The tomb (makbarat) was built in 1438 near the southern wall of the mausoleum of ShamsiddinKulal by the order of MirzoUlugbek. On the tombstones of the mausoleum, the names of the relatives and descendants of the Termezseyids are engraved, so the mausoleum was given its present name. Texts on marble tombstones dating from the XV-XVII centuries were moved here from the neighboring cemetery.
A small one-chamber building is slender and elegant; it is decorated with ornamental hand-made painting, executed in bright blue paint on a clean white field. The building is almost square, built in the style typical of the time of Ulugbek.
Kitab State Geological Reserve.
The Kitab State Geological Reserve is located in the Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan, on the territory of 3,938 hectares. This reserve is different from other nature protection zones of Uzbekistan, as it contains unique geological formations and is subordinate to the State Committee of Geology of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
In addition to its geological significance, the reserve is of great interest for the conservation of local flora and fauna. The streams running along the reserve feed on both drains of melted snow from the slopes of the Zarafshan Range and rain and groundwater. The climate in the area of the reserve is subtropical. Most of the precipitation, as a rule, falls in the spring season. The entire summer period is characterized by high temperatures. In winter, the snow cover can exceed 1 meter.
The fauna is represented by 168 species of animals, and the flora includes 798 species that grow on the territory of the reserve.
Mausoleum of Sheikh Shamseddin Kulyal.
The mausoleum of Sheikh ShamseddinKulyal (Khasreti Sheikh) is a burial vault, which is part of the burial complex called Dor-ut-Tilyavat (“The House of Reflection, Contemplation.”) The formation of the funeral complex was connected with the personality of the prominent local Sufi ShammeddinKulyal. Nicknamed Kulyal – “potter” – he received because he belonged to the crafts environment.
At first the grave was faced with slabs of onyx-like marble. Then, a dome mausoleum was erected over the grave of Sheikh Kulyal. The main entrance of the mausoleum turned to the west was highlighted by a portal where the brick mosaic was preserved in the form of a vertical row of eight-pointed stars lined with blue glazed bricks. In these stars are inserted Kufic inscriptions, made with blue bricks.In the XVII century on the east side of the mausoleum of ShamseddinKulyal was erected the premise of the memorial mosque, finished with plates from the polished bricks. In the XIX-XX centuries the mosque was already lying in ruins and then dismantled for the sake of brick. Now Shakhrisabz (Green city) carefully preserves the traditions of antiquity and monuments of architecture. All the excavations are carefully covered with river sand, and are closed by pavilions, but for the tourists are discovered small fragments of ancient ceramic masonry.
Mausoleum of Jahongir.
The mausoleum of Jahongir built in the 14th and 15th centuries by the masters of Khorezm for the suddenly died twenty-two-year-old son of Temur rises in the southwestern part of Shakhrisabz and is part of the Dorus-Saodat memorial ensemble, which was intended for the entire dynasty of Temurids.
The mausoleum building is admired by the harmony and elegance of the three-piece structure, consisting of an internal decorative dome, a discharge middle and an outer conical cupola. The decor of the crypt is distinguished by ornamental calculations of glazed brick with majolica and mosaic inserts.
The Dorus-Saodat Memorial Ensemble, which means the “Powerhouse”, before the destruction by the troops of the Sheibanid ruler Abdullahan II in the second half of the 16th century, included three parts: the Jahangir Mausoleum, the Khazri Imam Mosque and the Temur’s Crypt, in which, according to the will of fate and was not buried.
The Dorus-Saodat complex.
The Dorus-Saodat complex, translated as “the storehouse of power”, was built for the dynasty of Temurids immediately after the death of Temur’s son Jahongir in the 14th century. The complex is located in the south-west of Shakhrisabz. It consists of the mausoleums of Jahangir, Omar and Tamerlane, as well as the mosque of Hazrati Imam.
A few years later, the mausoleum of Jahongir was built over the grave of the prince. The best architects from Khorezm worked on the mausoleum and built two tombs on both sides of the mausoleum and the Khazir. The building turned out 38 meters in height with a pointed dome, covered with images and Arabic script with excerpts from the Koran.
The second son of Temur was Umarshayh, who was killed during the siege of the fortress Kurd in Iran. He was also buried in the Dorus-Saodat complex.
In our time only the mausoleum of Jakhongir, the crypt of Amir Temur, and the mosque of Khazri Imam with the decorated aivan and the vaulted ceiling in the hall are preserved.
The Kok-Gumbaz Mosque.
The Kok-Gumbaz mosque, built in the first half of the 15th century by Ugulbek, a famous astronomer and philosopher on the foundation of pre-Mongolian construction, is the largest Friday mosque in Shahrisabs, which is part of the Dorut-Tillovat memorial complex.
According to the legend, Abdulatif, the son of Ugulbek, quarreled with his father, left the house and hired himself to work as an old farmer. Upon learning of this, the father took his money from him and, adding his own, built a mosque-madrasah, where students were trained until the end of the 19th century.
The name of the mosque Kok-Gambaz, which translates as the “Blue Dome”, is due to the fact that its magnificent huge dome is covered with blue ceramic tiles. Around the dome with white glazed tiles there is an inscription: “Lordship belongs to Allah, wealth belongs to Allah”.
The mosque has four deep niches oriented on the sides of the world, the walls of which are plastered with white ganch and painted with blue finest ornament.
