Registan Square (a place covered with sand) is an area in the center of Samarkand. “Registan” was called the main square in the cities of the Middle East. Samarkand Square is the most famous registry thanks to the famous architectural ensemble of the XV-XVII centuries located on it, the center of which is the Madrassah of Ulugbek (1417-1420), the Sherdor Madrassah (1619-1636) and the Madrassah of Tillya-Kari (1646-1660). The ensemble of three madrasahs is a unique example of the art of urban planning and a wonderful example of the architectural design of the main square of the city. It is one of the brightest examples of Persian architecture.
Madrassah Ulugbek is the oldest madrasah in Registan Square and was erected in 1417-1420. The ruler of the Timurid state and the scientist-astronomer Ulugbek. The erection of this structure, and a little later the observatory, brought Samarkand the fame of one of the main centers of science of the medieval East.
Madrasah was built in the western part of Registan Square, opposite to it a few years later was built the khanaka of Ulugbek, and the northern side was occupied by caravan-shed. The last two buildings stood for about two centuries, and then in their place in the beginning of the XVII century appeared surviving to the Sherdor madrassa and the Till-Kari madrasah.
Rectangular in terms of madrasah had four aivans and a square courtyard, along the perimeter of which were located deep niches, leading to two-tiered cells, where students lived. The back side of the courtyard was occupied by a mosque, four domes towered above the corner educational auditoriums of the madrasah, and four minarets were located at the corners of the building. The building is facing the square with a majestic eastern portal with a high pointed arch, above which there is a mosaic panel with geometric ornamentation, made of colored bricks, irrigated and carved ceramics.
Madrassah Ulugbek was one of the best spiritual universities of the Muslim East of the XV century. According to legend, he studied the famous poet, scholar and philosopher Abdurakhman Jami. [2] Lectures on mathematics, geometry, logic, natural sciences, codes of doctrines about man and world soul and theology were read at the educational institution and were read by their famous scientists of that time: Kazi-zadear-Rumi, JemshidGiyas al-Din Al-Kashi, Al- Kuschi, and also Ulugbek himself.
Madrasah Sherdor was built on the site of the Khanaka of Ulugbek, which arose in 1424 in the eastern part of the square opposite the Madrassah of Ulugbek. By the beginning of the XVII century, the khanaka along with other buildings of the square had decayed and deteriorated. By the order of the Uzbek [3] ruler of Samarkand YalangtushBahadur, construction of the Sherdor and Tillya-Kari madrassas was started. Madrasah Sherdor (madrassah “with tigers”, “Abode of lions”) was erected by an architect named Abdul-Jabbar, decorator Muhammad Abbas.
Madrassa Sherdor almost repeats the opposite Ulugbek madrasah, although in distorted proportions. It is distinguished by an inordinately large dome, which could cause the gradual destruction of the building already a few decades after its construction. The walls of the madrassah are covered with quotations from the Koran, the emblem of Samarkand is depicted on the entrance portal – leopards with the sun on their backs, a swastika is placed in the center of the arch, and “God Almighty” is written on top of the special Arabic script. The decoration of the external and internal facades is made of glazed brick, mosaic sets and paintings with an abundance of gilding. Finishing of the Sherdor madrassa is noticeably inferior to the sophistication of the Madrassah of Ulugbek, erected in the 15th century, which was the “golden age” of the architecture of Samarkand. Nevertheless, the harmony of large and small forms, elegant mosaic pattern, monumentality, clarity of symmetry – all this places the madrassah on a par with the best architectural monuments of the city.
Madrassah Tillya-Kari was erected in the northern part of the square ten years after the SherdorMadrassah in the place of the caravanserai of the 1420s. The main facade of the square in the plan of the building is symmetrical and consists of a central portal and two-tiered front wings with arched niches and corner towers. The spacious yard is built up around the perimeter with small residential cells. On the west side of the courtyard there is a domed building of the mosque with two adjacent galleries on the pillars.
The building of the madrasah is richly decorated with mosaics and majolica with geometric and floral ornamentation. In the decoration of the interior, the gilding is abundantly used, which gave the name to the madrassa, meaning “decorated with gold”. In the mosque, the mihrab and minbar are gilded, the surface of the walls and vaults is covered with a kundal painting with abundant use of gold.
Throughout its history, the Till-Kari madrassa was not only a place for students to study, but also served as a cathedral mosque.
Dahma Sheibanidov
To the east of the Till-Kari madrassah is DahmaSheybanidov, which is a heap of tombstones, the oldest of which dates back to the 16th century. The founder of the Sheibanid power was the grandson of AbulKhair, Muhammad Sheibani, who in 1500 conquered Samarkand and Bukhara, overthrew the last rulers ruling there from the Timurid dynasty. After that, Sheibani in 1503 seized Tashkent. In 1506 he captured Khiva and in 1507 attacked Merv (Turkmenia), eastern Persia and western Afghanistan. Sheibanids stopped the offensive of the Safavids, who in 1502 conquered Akkoyunlu (Iran). Muhammad Sheibani was the leader of nomadic Uzbeks. DahmaShibanidov is a funerary structure in the form of a rectangular prism. The grave was acquired by the order of the daughter-in-law of Sheibani Khan, the wife of his son Temur Sultan, Mihr Sultan Hanim, as a special family burial vault. Later Hamza Sultan (1511), Mahdi Sultan (1511), daughter of SheibanikhanShahrbanukhanim (1536) and other representatives of the Shibanid dynasty were buried. The latest gravestone dates back to 1586. Initially, the Sheybanids were buried in the Dahme on Tashkent street, but in the 1870s it was destroyed by order of the authorities, and the tombstones were transferred twice, for the last time transferred to the territory of Registan.
Shahi Zinda (Uzbek Shohizinda,) is a monument of medieval architecture in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), an ensemble of mausoleums of the Samarkand nobility. The complex, which reached us, consists of eleven mausoleums, successively attached to each other during the 14th-15th centuries. Nevertheless, during the excavations on the eastern slope of the ancient settlement Afrasiab, the remains of mausoleums of the 11th-12th centuries were discovered [1]. In 2001, the ensemble of ShahiZinda mausoleums, along with other ancient buildings of Samarkand, is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The entrance portal of the complex is the newest construction of the complex. The internal buildings of the ensemble are divided into lower, middle and upper groups, which are interconnected by arched-dome passages – Chartas.
In the lower group of buildings on the terrace near the entrance there is a two-dome mausoleum. The middle group of buildings consists of a group of mausoleums from the time of Timur, where his relatives and prominent military and religious figures are buried. These structures date back to the last quarter of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries. Among them are the Emir-zade Mausoleum (1386), Tuglu-Tekin, the niece of TimurShadi-Mulk-aka (Turkan-aka) (1371-1372) and the sister of TimurShirin-bika-aka (1385-1386). . The last two mausoleums were best preserved. The main facades of these small single-storey buildings are arranged in the form of a portal with a rich and colorful decor. Not far from the mausoleum of Shirin-bika-aka, significantly different from other buildings, there is an octagonal mausoleum of the first half of the 15th century with openings on the sides.
It is decorated with a mosaic of glazed bricks and, probably, was originally covered by a dome on a high cylindrical drum.
Gur-Emir -the mausoleum of Tamerlane (Amir Timur) and his family (Timurids) in Samarkand.
Outwardly Gur-Emir is a single-domed building with a crypt. It stands out for its simplicity and solemn monumental architecture.
The huge ribbed dome dominates (the diameter of the dome is 15 meters, height 12.5 meters), slightly overhanging the cylindrical drum. The lower part of the building represents an octahedron, which is almost hidden by many later additions. To the north is a small portal. The dome and the drum account for more than half of the total height of the building. The dome is covered with a pattern of blue and blue tiles, which also distinguishes its ribbed form. On the drum there are inscriptions containing praises to Allah. The walls of the octahedron are also decorated with white and turquoise tiles on the background of unglazed brick.
Inside at the bottom, the walls are decorated with a marble panel with insets of green serpentine and friezes of carved inscriptions, and above are painted with blue paint and gold. Relief rosettes on the plafond of the dome imitate the starry sky. Decorative decoration complements openwork grilles on the windows and a marble fence around the tombstones, but they are only a decoration, the real ones are in the basement.
In the first years after the death of Emir Timur, the mausoleum was richly decorated with weapons and utensils.
The crypt located in the basement of the mausoleum, unlike the upper room, has a low ceiling without decor. Here are the real graves of Timur and his family, which are located just like the decorative tombstones on the top floor.
In the depth of the niche of the entrance portal among the mosaic pattern is the name of one of the creators of the monument – the architect Muhammad ibn Mahmud Isfagani.
After the death of Tamerlane, Ulugbek installed on his grave a tombstone made of dark green jade, on which a warning was cut out: “Anyone who breaks my peace in this life or in the next one will suffer and die.” Before this stone was a place of worship in the palace of the Chinese emperors and the throne of Kabek Khan (descendant of Genghis Khan).
Mausoleum of Bibi Khanum is one of the architectural monuments of Samarkand, the construction of which was started in the late 1390s and completed in the early 1400s. It was rebuilt from the ruins at the end of the 20th century. The monument is on Tashkent Street.
Mausoleum Bibi-Khanum, located opposite the cathedral mosque of Timur, was laid for the mother, wife and other women of the Timurid clan.
According to the descriptions of Clavijo, the mother of Bibi-Khanum was buried first. She herself was buried by SarayMulk-hanym herself. In 1941 an anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov discovered a grave and studied the remains of the buried.
In 200,on the initiative of the First President of Uzbekistan IA. Karimova monument was restored. He is part of the ensemble of mausoleums of Samarkand. Modest appearance is deceptive: in the interior fabulously beautiful stalactites of ivory color.
Mausoleum Ruhabad is a memorial and cult building of the 14th century in Samarkand, the burial place of the Islamic preacher, theologian and mystic scientist sheikh BurkhaneddinKlychSagardzhi.
Mausoleum Rukhabad is atypical for the time of Timur’s reign construction. The building lacks an entrance portal characteristic of this period, which makes its entire facades equivalent. The mausoleum is a single-dome construction of a centric composition with an area of 14×12 meters and a height of 24 meters. Its base is a cube, on which there is a transitional arched octahedron with light windows on the main axes. The structure is crowned by a spherical cone. The mausoleum is led by three entrances – from the north, west and south. The decoration of the mausoleum is very ascetic. In its exterior decor the texture of burnt bricks predominates. Only in the framing of arched entrances there are tiles of irrigated carved terracotta. In the interior at the base of the walls there is a two-meter ceramic panel, above which there are insets of glazed tiles in the form of a narrow intermittent ribbon. The rest of the walls, arched sails and dome are covered with alabaster.
Mausoleum of Aksaray (Ak-Saray, from Turkic ak – white, barn-palace) is a memorial and religious building of the 15th century in Samarkand, the burial vault of Samarkand Timurids. It is located 30 meters to the south-east of the Gur-Emir mausoleum.
Mausoleum Aksaray is a single-dome rectangular in plan building, which includes the cruciform main hall and three rooms of the entrance group. The main hall is covered by a dome on a high cylindrical drum, which is based on intersecting arches and thyroid sails. A narrow, staggered drums leads to a marble-clad octagonal crypt with unidentified burials. There is no exterior decoration near the building, which contrasts sharply with its rich interior decoration. In the interior at the base of the walls is a panel with a crockery mosaic. The walls, sails and dome are covered with ornamental painting, made in kundal technique, with abundant use of gilding.
Ishrathan’s Mausoleum
Among the monuments of the Temurids epoch in Uzbekistan, Ishrathan’s mausoleum is a special place. Thanks to the blue dome, which was erected on an elegant and incredibly high drum, he received a special expressiveness. It is a monument of construction, which is enveloped in many secrets.
On the facades of the mausoleum, against the background of the burnt brick, the blue insets of the mosaic flicker. Its interiors are richly decorated. The central hall, as well as in other rooms, used progressive at that time the construction of the floors on four arches, which intersect each other. In the central hall the panel was decorated with a mosaic veneer with a vegetable pattern. An overgraze painting of gold was also made. A little above all the surface of the walls covered the technique of “kundal” with corrugated gilt details.
The memorial complex of Imam al-Bukhari covers an area of about 10 hectares and includes an entrance building, a mosque with a khanaka, an administrative building, the mausoleum of Imam al-Bukhari, as well as the premises of the educational center “DorusHadis” located at some distance. The main architectural elements are grouped around a rectangular, almost square, courtyard. Entrance to the complex is through a single-storeybuilding made of burnt bricks, including three portal-dome volumes with through arched passages, built between the sections of the vaulted rooms facing the courtyard. Lateral volumes have a smaller size of portals and domes in comparison with the central one. The rest of the perimeter of the complex is surrounded by aivan – a terrace with a flat roof supported by wooden columns on stone bases. The columns are decorated with decorative ornamental carvings. To the left of the entrance to the gap of the aivan there is a mosque with a khanaka. This building with five ribbed domes has an area of 786 square meters and it can pray up to 1500 people at the same time. To the right of the entrance there is an administrative building with a library and a museum, where rare hand-written and lithographed books on Islamic theology are exhibited. In the north-western part of the complex, aivan forms a deep niche in which the five-step stone platform houses the main architectural dominant of the complex – the mausoleum of Imam al-Bukhari. It is a chart, crowned by a double spheroconical dome on a cylindrical drum.
The mausoleum has a size of 9×9 meters at the base and 17 meters in height. The outer dome is ribbed and decorated with blue tiles. The floor of the mausoleum is lined with marble slabs, on which is installed a sagan made of light green onyx. To the right of the mausoleum there is a separate entrance leading to the small vaulted chamber of the tomb where the dakhma is located. In the decorative design of the complex, materials typical of medieval Islamic architecture – mosaic, majolica, ganch and carved marble – are used. In the courtyard of the complex there is a small pool-house, and among the plane trees there is a source, the water of which is considered curative.