Samarkand is the second largest city of Uzbekistan. In 1969 Samarkand
celebrated its 2,500-year jubilee. Over its long history Samarkand
witnessed its ups and downs. It either was famous for its picturesque
markets, or was left half-escaped by its inhabitants.
Before the 13th century the city occopied a vast (by the medieval standards)
hilly territory, which is now called Afrasiab.
It was sieged by the troops of Alexander the Great, the Arab Caliphate and
Genghiz Khan. Over the past years there were excavated the city gates,
streets and buildings of Afrasiab. Along the southern slope of the excavation
site there ran a corridor of the Shakhi-Zinda necropolis near the grave of
the worshipped saint Kusam ibn Abbas and builtover on both sides by the
12th-15th-century mausoleums. Their decorative facings represent masterpieces
of various ceramic arts, their blue cupolas welcome guests from afar.
Samarkand achieved an unprecedentedgrowth when it became the capital of the
state ruled by Tamerlane and later ruled by his grandson Ulugbek late in
the 14th-15th centuries. By that time the city was finally shifted to the
south-west from the Afrasiab hills, and occupied the territory from the today's
marketplace to the M.Gorky Boulevard, where there's a multi-storey Samarkand
Hotel. Tamerlane brought cruelty and devastation to the invaded nations.
Due to his thurst for fame and consolidation of power, Tamerlane had enormous
and splendid structures built for him. Only some of them have remained intact
-the Bibi-knanyn mosque, the family male burial place, Gur-Emit, where under the
nephritis burial tomb the Iron Lame Man (Timur-leng) was buried.
Its central square,Reghistan, where all radial streets gathered and where heralds
proclaimed the rulers'decrees, where justice was done and trade was in full
swing, was shaped up already under Tamerlane. But the buildings of three madrassahs
(higher educational establishments) were built later - the Ulugbek madrassah
(early 15th century), Shir-dor and Tillia Kari (the 17th century).
But Samarkand was famous not only for its architecture and crafts.
Brilliant Oriental poets, musicians and scientists - mathematicians,
philosophers, astronomers gathered here, at the palace of rulers. Even partially
preserved sextant and the foundation of the Ulugbek observatory on the
Chapal-ata hill make one feel the importance of the building. Ulugbek's
astronomic tables are used even today throughout the world.
Ancient Samarkand is very beautiful surrounded by mountains on all sides.
The range of mountains with theirsilvery tops because of the bright snow
and the glaciers ate the end of any urban landscape.
Admiring the live illustration and and legends, architectural masterpieces,
no guestwould leave the city without visiting a city market. Of course, the
modern market of Samarkand differs significantly from formerly abundant and
exotic Oriental markets. But the interest doesn't diminish in them.
Today's Samarkand surpasses very much in size a medieval town. The city
is growing, becomes prettier and willingly welcomes its guests.
