Magic tale and legend of the Ancient East - Samarkand. The center of scientific, cultural and commercial life in the Middle Ages, a milestone of the Great Silk Road.
"The City of the Famous Shadows" is a witness to the change of eras and outstanding rulers, which has experienced periods of decline and prosperity many times, ancient and eternally young. It was sung by poets, to the glory of its architects they created minarets, palaces and mausoleums, it is full of mysticism and the breath of centuries settles on its ancient walls.
History
The city is about three thousand years old and disputes over its age do not subside to this day. Some Arabic sources date from 3,700 to 4,700 years. But who can know if this is reliable? He was known by various names. In the Avesta (the sacred book of Zoroastrianism), it is mentioned as the capital of the state of Sogdiana. During the campaigns of Alexander the Great (in 329 BC) it was described under the name Makaranda.
At the end of the first millennium A. D. Samarkand was the capital of the Samanids, and since 1370 - the pearl of the empire of Tamerlane. During the reign of Ulugbek, the city became the center of world science in the East. Then it went through times of decline - the capital was moved to Bukhara and it became just a bekdom (principality). With the advent of the Soviet Union, it became part of the Uzbek SSR, although historically it belonged to the Tajiks.
sights
The unconditional symbol of Samarkand is the Registan Square. Three majestic madrasahs are turned by portals to the center of the space. The first educational institution was built by order of Khan Ulugbek in 1420. Here they taught mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and theology. The building is richly decorated with glazed bricks - various ornaments adorn the yellowish masonry. Sher-Dor madrasah was conceived as a mirror image of Ulugbek's madrasah and was erected opposite it two centuries later.
Its portal is adorned with two tigers carrying the sun on their backs, chasing white deer. This drawing is the national symbol of Uzbekistan. The completion of the architectural ensemble was the third madrasah - Tillya-Kari ("covered with gold"). The building does not copy the previous two, is somewhat smaller in size and has the richest decor in gold colors.
The Bibi-Khanum Mosque is the most monumental structure for that time. Its blue dome is "like the heavens, and the portal is like the Milky Way." According to legend, it was built by order of Timur's wife - Bibi-Khanum. She conceived the building as a gift for her husband on a hike. But the architect who erected the building fell in love with the queen and demanded a kiss for the completion of the work for Timur's arrival. The end of the legend varies - some say that the architect threw himself down from the minaret of his creation to avoid execution.
And other sources claim that the king demanded that the master build a rich mausoleum underground and then killed him. And in the dungeon he began to store the library and transferred the treasury there. The library was also replenished by the descendant of Timur - Ulugbek, and it was reputed to be the largest collection of books in the world. And then the dungeon plan was lost forever. But this is already another legend …
Also noteworthy are the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, the tomb of Khoja Daniyar (the biblical prophet Daniel), the Afrosiab settlement, numerous museums - you can't list everything.
Yes, and there is no point in painting beauty - you need to see in order to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of hoary antiquity, where every brick is a witness to history and we are all just a moment in comparison with it.
