Samarkand

Samarkand - the Capital of Tamerlane

    Samarkand is situated in the valley of the river Zarafshan.

    It is the second largest city of Uzbekistan and is of the same age as the city of Babylon or Rome. 

    The history of Samarkand is about 2,500 years old and has witnessed a lot of upheavals during the times of Alexander the Great, the Arabic Conquest, Genghis-Khan Conquest and lastly Tamerlane's. Hence, the culture of Samarkand was developed and mixed together with the Iranian, Indian, Mongolian and a bit of the Western and Eastern cultures.  Majestic and beautiful city Samarkand has a marvelous and attractive power. Poets and historians of the past called it

• Rome of the East,
• The beauty of sublunary countries,
• The pearl of the Eastern Moslem World.

Its advantageous geographical position in Zarafshan valley put Samarkand to the first place among cities of the Central Asia.

Mausoleum Gur Emir	Madrassah Ulugbek	Shakh-i-Zinda
Shah-i-Zinda	Sher-Dor Madrassah	Registan Square
Tilla-Kari Madrassah inside	Mosque Bibi-Hanum after reconstruction	Mosque Bibi-Hanum before reconstraction
Mosque Bibi-Hanum from Bazaar	Shah-i-Zinda	Shah-i-Zinda
Mausoleum Gur Emir	Shah-i-Zinda	Ulug-Beg observatory
	Sextant in Ulug-Beg Observatory