Samarkand

Samarkand – Crossroads of cultures

Samarkand can truly be called a unique city!

The greatest poets and philosophers of the world have given the city many names – the garden of the soul, the pearl of the east, the mirror of the world and even the face of the earth. However, they was not be able to describe the beauty and richness of this beautiful city.

Popular landmarks

The cultural heritage of Samarkand is quite large, for many centuries the city has been a key centre of the Great Silk Road.

At the beginning of the XXI century, the city was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List under the name “Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures”.

Having visited the city, you will be surprised with the number of historical monuments located here. We will try to show you the most popular attractions, which are certainly worth seeing!

Climate 

The climate of Samarkand has a pronounced seasonality. Winters are usually mild and temperatures do not often fall below 0 ° C. Cold snap is very rare and mostly at night, so do not forget to take a warm sweater and scarf. Summer is very hot, so do not forget to bring a hat and sunglasses with you.

Gifts and souvenirs 

Samarkand souvenir shops can make happy the fans of woodcrafts, textile and other materials. By tradition, most of the workshops are placed in the old madrassas and all crafts are hand-made by local artisans. However, in Samarkand, in addition to the usual souvenirs, you can find several more features that you will not find in other regions of the country. First of all, we advise you to visit the Siab bazaar, which is located next to the Bibi Khanum Mosque, almost in the centre of the old part of Samarkand.

This market is abundant of dried fruits, nuts and sweets. Among other things, the Samarkand flatbread and halva can be distinguished. Also in the Samarkand region, there is a paper-mill called “Meros”. Its masters have kept the method of preparing paper from mulberry bark. This method originated in the X-XI century and was particularly durable. At this factory, you can buy unusual paper crafts, such as postcards, notebooks, masks, and even dresses, dolls and handbags.

Сuisine 

In Samarkand, as well as in the most of our regions, the main dish is pilaf. This type of pilaf, like Bukhara, is not mixed during cooking, which gives the pilaf a peculiar diet. In fact, this diet is that everyone can choose how many carrots and meat to put him. In addition to pilaf, various kebabs, manti and especially the flatbread are popular! There are some legends about the Samarkand flatbread, as they can be stored for as long as you want, and they will not become stained and moldy.

One of the legends says that one Emir of Bukhara was very fond of Samarkand flatbread so much that he constantly ordered to bring it to him. However, once, when he was tired of waiting for his order each time, he thought about how to start making them in Bukhara. “Probably need to bring flour from Samarkand,” he thought. Nevertheless, it did not work. “Then you need to bring the local water”. Again, they failed. “Probably, it’s necessary to bring Samarkand clay and make tandoor from it”. The result remained the same. “Maybe it’s the master? I need the master from Samarkand”. However, even the Samarkand master could not repeat this taste in Bukhara. After that, the Emir abandoned his attempts and continued to bring his favorite dainty from Samarkand.

In the bazaars of Samarkand, you can also find a huge variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts for every taste.

History

If you have seen Samarkand once in your life, it will forever fascinate you. Samarkand unites many various cultures located on its territory. Did you know that Samarkand is the same age as such ancient capitals of the world as Rome and Nanjing? Yes! The city founded about 2,750 years ago, which gives it the right to be called one of the most ancient cities not only in Central Asia, but in the world as well. The peak of prosperity of the city falls on the reign of Amir Temur (Tamerlane) and his descendants.

At that time, Samarkand became the capital of his mighty empire.

There is a legend about how Temur has chosen his capital. In order to make a choice, he ordered his subjects to ride through all the cities and hang a ram carcass on their gates and a month later personally bypassed them. At all the gates, the carcasses decayed, and only at the gates of Samarkand, it was almost completely intact and even became wilted. Had seen this, Temur said: “This city has the cleanest air and healthy land. The capital will be here”! Tamerlane’s grandson, Mirzo Ulugbek, made this city the centre of world science. Samarkand was included in the List of “50 cities worth visiting in this life”.

Places to see

“SAMARKAND – THE PLACE OF CROSSING AND SYNTHESIS OF WORLD CULTURES”

Since then the city has been part of the Persian, Seleucid, Greco-Bactrian, Kushan and Hun Empires. The people who’ve lived there, and the religions they’ve followed, are no less comprehensive. In pre-Islamic times you’d have found evidence of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Nestorian Christians. Finally, in the 8th century, it was conquered by Arabs and most of the population converted to Islam. Until the invasion of Mongols in 1220, it was ruled by Samanids, Karakhanids, Seljuks and Khwarezm-Shahs. Samarkand’s heyday came with Tamerlane in the 14th and 15th centuries. Many of its most magnificent buildings date from Timurid times. From the 16th century onwards, regional khanates rise to power and ruled the region up until the Russian Imperial Conquest in 1868. Later still, Samarkand became the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925 to 1930. It’s this succession of empires and intermingling of cultures and religions that added layer after layer to the fascinatingly complex city we see today. Below are the findings from Afrosiyob museum, displaying deformed skulls and Zoroastrian ossuary or burial chest. Afrosiyob museum in Samarkand

AFROSIAB: THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF SAMARKAND

There’s not much left of Afrosiab, but when Samarkand was founded around the 7th century BC, this hilly mound and its fertile hinterland were easy to defend and equally capable of supporting its population. Excavations have shown that the city was surrounded by ten meter thick walls. They enclosed a palace and citadel as well as separate areas for different crafts. One of the most important finds are remnants of murals depicting the giving of gifts to the city’s ruler. There is, amongst others, a Chinese princess on the boat with her musicians, a Korean ambassador and members of the Persian and Turkic elite. One can see patterns, design and clothing style of the ancient silk trade. From this, we glean a little of the importance of the Silk Road, a tantalizing glimpse of society before Islam, when depictions of living creatures was forbidden.Sogdians of Central Asia, the ancient silk road traders mural from Samarkand, Afrosiab

THE NECROPOLIS OF THE LIVING KING – SHAH-I-ZINDA

Shah-i-Zinda translates as living king, and this necropolis site is a fitting memorial place for the nobility of Samarkand. The site was used for burials from the 12th to the 19th centuries with most of its mausoleums built between the 14th and 15th centuries.

Shahi Zinda necropolis in Samarkand

The Living King to which the name refers was the cousin of the Prophet of Islam named Kusam ibn Abbas. He got his nickname as according to the legend after the beheading, he took his head and fell into well and kept on living. To this day, it’s a wondrous place dominated by blue tiles richly decorated by geometric and calligraphic designs.blue tiles of Shahizinda in Samarkand

THE BIBI-KHANUM MOSQUE

At the time of its construction, at the beginning of the 15th century, this was a mosque that had no equal in terms of both architectural style and size. Its 40-meter high outer dome pushed the limits of engineering at the time; inside the dome was built to be ten meters shorter, giving stability to the structure. It was built under the orders of Tamerlane, who was very demanding and ordered it to be torn down several times before he was satisfied with the result. Almost a hundred elephants were brought to Samarkand from India, one of Tamerlane’s recent conquests, to help with the heavy lifting.Bibi Khanum mosque in Samarkand

LEGEND OF BIBI KHANUM

One of the enduring legends about the place suggests that it was actually Tamerlane’s wife who wanted to surprise the ruler with a magnificent mosque. She ordered the best architect to work on the project, but he fell in love with beautiful Bibi-Khanum and refused to complete it without a kiss. As her answer, she brought forty painted eggs and pointed out that they all looked different but inside they were the same. She offered other girls but he turned them down, saying that if he had forty buckets filled with water and one with wine, only one could turn his head. Beaten, she agreed to a kiss on the cheek. Right before he reached her she put a pillow in between them, but his kiss was so passionate that it still left a mark on her cheek. Ashamed of the mark, the queen ordered all women to cover their faces. When Tamerlane found out about the kiss, he ordered both of them to be thrown from the minaret. Wings appeared upon the shoulders of the architect as he stood on top of the minaret and he flew away. The Queen asked for permission to wear all her silk dresses at once. Thus, when she jumped they cushioned her fall or maybe even served as a parachute. The legend of Bibi Khanum in Samarkand, Uzbek girl dancing in golden dress

GUR EMIR – MAUSOLEUM OF AMIR TEMUR

Gur Emir literally translates as the “Tomb of the King” and was built between 1403 and 1404, dedicated to Tamerlane’s favorite grandson, who had recently died. This became the Emperor’s own mausoleum. Gur emir mausoleum in Samarkand

Tamerlane had intended to be interred in the city of his birth, but when he died suddenly in 1405, getting there proved impossible, so he was buried in Samarkand instead. His teacher, two sons, and two grandsons including Ulughbek are also buried there. Gur Emir is an excellent example of medieval Islamic architecture and was the catalyst for further Persian and Mughal architecture, a prototype for the Taj Mahal in India featuring two columns by its sides and large dome in the center.Gur Emir of Tamerlane in Samarkand

ULUGHBEK’S OBSERVATORY

Little remains of Ulughbek’s Observatory. Ulughbek observatory remnants in Samarkand Once, there stood a three-story structure, the base for Tamerlane’s grandson, the scientist Ulughbek. Model of Ulughbek’s Observatory The Observatory was built between 1424 and 1429 and was used to observe and calculate the movement of celestial objects. Ulughbek’s research was so important and accurate that his estimate of the length of the stellar year was only a minute out from modern day calculations. His works on astronomy, mathematics, trigonometry, and geometry were brilliant. Despite this, he was beheaded in 1449 and his observatory destroyed.Ulughbek’s book in his observatory museum

REGISTAN – HEART OF SAMARKAND

Registan became the new center of Samarkand after Afrosiab was destroyed by the invading Mongols. Ever since it has been Samarkand’s central square. Registan means “Sandy Place” and was the setting for important announcements and even executions. Nowadays it is the focus for national holiday celebrations and tourists from all over the world flock to see its most important buildings.Registan square in Samarkand

The first of these was completed in 1420 and is still named after Ulughbek. In this madrassa or religious school, Ulughbek taught lessons in astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy.Registan Ulugbek Madrasah

The second building was built in1636. Sher Dor madrassah sits opposite the significantly older Ulughbek madrassa. It has an interesting façade embellished with stylized, mythological tigers, a challenge to the traditional Islamic ban on depicting humans and animals.Sher Dor Madrasa in Registan, Samarkand

The third significant building is Tilya Kori madrassa, completed in 1660. It has stunning golden decoration and even its name means gilded. It was restored in the 20th century.Tillya Kori in Registan, the central building

It has stunning golden decoration and even its name means gilded. Its initial decoration required 17 kilograms of pure gold and it was restored in the 20th century.Golden building of Registan, men taking picture in national Uzbek hat

PAPERMAKING IN SAMARKAND

Papermaking in Samarkand has a long history and a visit to a paper factory is something to be recommended. After their defeat in 751 at the Battle of Talas, Chinese artisans were brought by the victorious Arabs to Samarkand. There, they were milked for their methods of papermaking. Samarkand paper was of a fine quality made from mulberry trees and polished so smooth that it became one of the best quality papers in the world. From Samarkand, this method of papermaking was brought to Baghdad, from there to the Iberian Peninsula and then to the rest of Europe.Samarkand paper factory

Today you can get there various souvenirs made out of paper produced according to an ancient technique from postcards to paper masks an puppets.

Samarkand paper post cards uzbekistan travel

SILK PRODUCTION

Another workshop to visit is a silk carpet factory. Located at the crossroads of the Great Silk Road, Samarkand has long had its own silk production traditions. Nowadays you can learn about the process of making silk, order your own real silk carpet or buy a silk scarf.Samarkand silk carpet

SAMARKAND’S SIYOB BAZAAR

Siyob Bazaar has been the base of traders since ancient times. Those traveling the Silk Road brought handicrafts as well as fresh produce, such as peaches and melons from the nearby Zarafshan Valley. Many of these same goods can be found at the bazaar today. Siyob bazaar Samarkand The market is sectioned off, each area focusing on a different type of product. One thing to look out for is one of the twenty varieties of a local flatbread called lepeshka. This hard, round loaf kept fresh longer and in Tamerlane’s time was vital in providing sustenance for the Emperor’s troops.Samarkand traditional bread

SAMARKAND TOURS & TRAVEL

Samarkand is living evidence of the glory of the Silk Road trade, the ups and downs of Central Asian history and a cast of powerful conquerors like Alexander the Great, Chinggis Khan and of course Tamerlane. Once a thriving cultural, economic and political center for the region, nowadays it has become perhaps the most important tourist center in the whole of Central Asia. Why not explore the beauty of this marvelous city on one of our tours?