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Samarkand
World Heritage Site
View of the Registan
View of the Registan
Official seal of SamarkandWorld Heritage Site
Seal
Elevation
702 m (2,303 ft)
Population
 • City 596,300
 • Urban
643,970
 • Metro
708,000
Website http://www.samarkand.info

Samarkand is a famous city. It is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province.

The city is on the old Silk Road between China and the West, and is an Islamic centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century, it became the capital of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane), and is the site of his mausoleum, the Gur-e Amir. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most famous landmarks. The Registan was the ancient centre of the city.

In 2001, UNESCO added the 2,750-year-old city to its World Heritage Site list as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.

History

Samarkand is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, prospering from its location on the trade route between China and the Mediterranean (Silk Road). At times Samarkand has been one of the greatest cities of Central Asia.

Founded circa 700 BC by the Persians, Samarkand has been one of the main centres of Persian civilization from its early days. Alexander the Great conquered it in 329BC.

Samarqand
Downtown with Bibi Khanym mosque

Medieval history

At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came under Arab control. Under Abbasid rule, the legend goes, the secret of papermaking was obtained from two Chinese prisoners in 751. This led to the first paper mill in the Islamic world being founded in Samarkand. The invention then spread to the rest of the Islamic world, and from there to Europe.

Samarkand was sacked by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220 . Some of the people survived, but later Samarkand suffered at least one other Mongol sack. The town took many decades to recover from these disasters. In The Travels of Marco Polo, where Polo records his journey along the Silk Road, Samarkand is described as "a very large and splendid city..." He also writes about a Christian church in Samarkand, which miraculously remained standing after a portion of its central supporting column was removed.

In 1370, Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, decided to make Samarkand the capital of his empire, which extended from India to Turkey. During the next 35 years he built a new city and populated it with artisans and craftsmen from all of the places he had conquered. Timur gained a reputation as a patron of the arts, and Samarkand grew to have a population of about 150,000.

Modern history

In 1499, the Uzbek Turks took control of Samarkand. They moved the capital to Bukhara and Samarkand went into decline. The city came under Russian rule in 1868. The Russian section of the city was built after this point, largely to the west of the old city.

The city later became the capital of the Samarkand Oblast of Russian Turkestan and grew in importance still further when the Trans-Caspian railway reached the city in 1888. It became the capital of the Uzbek SSR in 1925 before being replaced by Tashkent in 1930.

Images for kids

  • Afrasiyab ruins in Samarkand

    Ancient city walls of Samarkand, 4th century BCE

  • Daniël de Blieck - Alexander Slaying Cleitus

    Alexander Slaying Cleitus in Samarkand

  • Turkish officers during a audience with king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab, Samarkand

    Turkic officers during a audience with king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab murals, Samarkand.

  • Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Samarkand, Penjikent, 8th century CE (obverse and reverse), Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities (319)

    Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, last Ikhshid of Samarkand, Penjikent, 8th century CE, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.

  • Shah-i-Zinda

    Shah-i Zinda memorial complex, 11th–15th centuries

  • Afrosiab (8145369219)

    Ruins of Afrasiab - ancient Samarkand destroyed by Genghis Khan.

  • Samarkand Shah-i Zinda general view

    Shakhi Zinda mausoleums in Samarkand

  • Bibi-Khanym Mosque (8145400614)

    Bibi-Khanym Friday Mosque, 1399-1404

  • Ulugh Beg Madrasa (220363337)

    Ulugbek's madrasa in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

  • Registan square Samarkand

    The Registan and its three madrasahs. From left to right: Ulugh Beg Madrasah, Tilya-Kori Madrasah and Sher-Dor Madrasah.

  • Mosque Hazrat-Hyzr (1)

    Khazrat Hizr mosque, 1854

  • Самарканд - 6

    Samarkand in 1890

  • 'Claudius Bombarnac' by Léon Benett 28

    Bazaar in Samarkand, illustration by Léon Benett for a Jules Verne novel

  • Рихард-Карл Карлович Зоммер - Самарканд, Узбекистан

    Samarkand, by Richard-Karl Karlovitch Zommer

  • .

    Triumph by Vasily Vereshchagin, depicting the Sher-Dor Madrasa in Registan.

  • Samarkand, Uzbekistan

    Samarkand from space in September 2013.

  • Bilingual Samarkand

    Greeting in two languages: Uzbek (Latin) and Tajik (Cyrillic) at the entrance to one of the mahallahs (Bo'zi) of Samarkand

  • Building Samarkand Mosque

    Building the Great Mosque of Samarkand. Illustration by Bihzad for the Zafar-Nameh. Text copied in Herat in 1467–68 and illuminated the late 1480s. John Work Garret Collection, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

  • Rajasthan3

    Ulugh Beg Madrasah

  • Rajasthan

    Sher-Dor Madrasah

  • Registan Tillya-Kari madrasah2014

    Tilya Kori Madrasah

  • Ulugh-beg Madrassa courtyard

    Ulugh Beg Madrasah courtyard

  • Lion(or tiger) on the Sher-dor madrassa

    Tiger on the Sher-Dor Madrasah iwan

  • AlBukhari mausoleum

    Imam Bukhari Shrine

  • Imammaturidi

    Imam Maturidi Shrine

  • Ruhabad

    Ruhabad Mausoleum

  • Nuriddin Basir Mausoleum 1

    Nuriddin Basir Shrine

  • Mausoleum Khoja Daniyar 5221

    Khoja Daniyar Mausoleum

  • Panjab Shia Mosque in Samarkand

    Panjab Shia Mosque

  • Panjab Madrasa in Samarkand

    Panjab Shia Madrasa

  • Murad Avliya Mausoleum and Courtyard

    Murad Avliya Shrine

  • Orthodox church in Samarkand 11-09

    Orthodox Cathedral of St. Alexiy Moscowskiy

  • Church Cover Blessed Virgin in Samarkand 12-55

    Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin

  • Church of St. George Victorious Samarkand 08-19

    Orthodox Church of St. George the Victorious

  • Church of St. George Victorious in Samarkand 08-18

    Orthodox Church of St. George Pobedonosets

  • Church Saint John Baptist in Samarkand 23-38

    St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

  • St. Mary Church in Samarkand 10-54

    Armenian Church Surb Astvatsatsin

  • Registan square Samarkand

    Registan Ensemble and Square

  • Shakh-i-Zinda

    Shahi Zinda Ensemble

  • ShrineofAmirTimur

    Gure Amir (Shrine of Timur and Timurids)

  • Мавзолей Ак-Сарай

    Aqsaray Timurids Mausoleum

  • Samarqand Bibi Khanum Mausoleum

    Bibi Khanum Mausoleum

  • Mausoleum Ishrathona 05

    Ishratkhana Mausoleum

  • Makhsumbobo Mausoleum

    Makhsum Baba Mausoleum

  • AlBukhari mausoleum

    Imam Bukhari Shrine

  • Ruhabad

    Ruhabad Mausoleum

  • Imammaturidi

    Imam Maturidi Shrine

  • Murad Avliya Mausoleum

    Murad Avliya Shrine

  • Mausoleum Khoja Daniyar 5221

    Khoja Daniyar Mausoleum

  • Nuriddin Basir Mausoleum 1

    Nuriddin Basir Shrine

  • Khodzha Abdu-Derun Mausoleum 03

    Abdu Darun Complex

  • Entrance to the Abdu Berun Ensemble in Samarkand

    Abdu Berun Complex

  • Chorsu

    Chorsu (domed market)

  • Ulugh Beg observatory 2

    Ulughbek Observatory

  • Samarkand, Registan, Ulugbek Medressa (6238565020)

    Ulughbek Madrasa

  • Rajasthan

    Shirdar Madrasa

  • Tilla-Kori madrasah - Exterior views 1

    Tilla Kari Madrasa

  • Khoja Ahrar entrance (cropped)

    Khoja Ahrar Madrasa

  • Panjab Madrasa in Samarkand

    Panjab Madrasa

  • Mosque Bibi Khanum (5)

    Bibi Khanum Mosque

  • Namazga mosque 4682

    Namazgah Mosque

  • La mosquée Khazret Khyzr (Samarcande) (6009412301)

    Hazrat Hizir Mosque

  • Panjab Shia Mosque in Samarkand

    Panjab Shia Mosque

  • Khodja Nisbatdor Mosque 1

    Khoja Nisbatdar Mosque

  • Beruni street in Samarkand

    Many yellow taxis on the streets of Samarkand

  • Hotel in Rudaki and Dahbed Streets in Samarkand

    Taxi and tram on Rudaki Street in Samarkand

  • Tram in Samarkand

    Tram in Samarkand

  • Beruni and Rudaki Streets in Samarkand

    Beruni and Rudaki Streets in Samarkand

  • Mirzo Ulughbek Street in Samarkand 2

    Taxi and bus on Mirzo Ulughbek Avenue in Samarkand

  • Самарканд - 103 - Близ главного входа в Шахи-Зинде

    "Araba" and donkey in Samarkand in 1890

  • Самарканд - 1 - Станция Самарканд, конечный пункт Закаспийской военной железной дороги

    Samarkand railway station in 1890

  • Hammond Slides Samarkand 44

    "Araba" in Samarkand in 1964

  • Hammond Slides Samarkand 04

    "Araba" in Samarkand in 1964

  • Samarkand Railway Station

    Samarkand railway station

  • Afrosiyob Express Train in Station - Samarkand - Uzbekistan (7502824436) (3)

    Afrasiyab (Talgo 250) high-speed train in Samarkand railway station

  • Passengers Dismounting from Afrosiyab Express Train - Samarkand Train Station - Samarkand - Uzbekistan (7480148270)

    In Samarkand railway station

  • Talgo 250 Afrosiyob

    Afrasiyab (Talgo 250) high-speed train

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