Category: UZBEKISTAN

SHAHRISABZ, UZBEKISTAN FOOD: MANTY and FRIENDS

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Uzbek MANTY – a traditional meat dish, consisting of finely chopped meat in a thin dough, steam-cooked. It is best eaten with your hands.
Dried fruit and Nuts – I’ve never had better than here in Uzbekistan 🇺🇿

July 2023

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: SHAH-I-ZINDA

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The Shah-i-Zinda Ensemble includes mausolums and other ritual buildings of 11th – 15th and 19th centuries. The name Shah-i-Zinda (meaning “The living king”) is connected with the legend that Qutham inn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, is buried here. He came to Samarkand with the Arab invasion in the 7th century to preach Islam. Popular legends speak that he was beheaded for his faith but he didn’t die, took his head and went into the deep well (Garden of Paradise), where he’s still living. (wiki)

I stood at the gate of Paradise.

29june23

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: BIBI KHANYM MOSQUE 🕌

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Bibi-Khanym Mosque 🕌
Timur’s favorite wife asked his permission to build this massive mosque next to the bazaar. He said yes.
29june23
A photograph taken sometime between 1905 and 1915 by color photography pioneer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii shows the mosque’s appearance after its collapse in the earthquake of 1897. (wiki)

KASHKADARYA REGION, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: TESHIK-TASH

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There is a holy place worshipped by all Uzbek people: Teshik-Tash.
A large holed Stone (Teshik-Tash in Turkic) is surrounded by small white stones.
According to the stories of old, the stone has a healing effect. Mothers bring their children and take them through the hole of the stone. They say that the next day children are cured of their illnesses. Teshik Tash is not only the name of the holy place, but the name of the grotto, well-known for the archaeological excavation of the remains of a Neanderthal child. In 1938, the famous Central Asian archaeologist Michael E. Masson found the burial place in the Teshik-Tash Cave.
During the excavations archaeologists found the skeleton of a Neanderthal boy of 9-10 years. Famous Russian anthropologist Mikhail M. Gerasimov restored the live appearance of the boy from his skull. Today, you can see a sculptural portrait of the boy in Termez museum.
The child was found in a grave surrounded by upright goat horns deliberately placed there, as if to ritualize the burial. The Teshik Tash burial illustrates an early expression of an animistic belief – that is, that nature is essentially personal and filled with spirits which behave like human beings.
Kashkadarya, Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
29june23

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: REGISTAN SQUARE

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The Registan (Uzbek: Регистон, Registon) was the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand of the Timurid Empire. The name Rēgistan (ریگستان) means “sandy place” or “desert” in Persian.
The Registan was a public square, where people gathered to hear royal proclamations, heralded by blasts on enormous copper pipes called dzharchis – and a place of public executions. It is framed by three madrasahs (Islamic schools) of distinctive Islamic architecture. The square was regarded as the hub of the Timurid Renaissance.
Reminds me of Ancient Rome.

29june23

SHAHRISABZ, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: KOK GUMBAZ MOSQUE

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Kok-Gumbaz Mosque was built in 1435-1436. Commissioned by one of Timur’s grandsons.

28june23

SHAHRISABZ, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: I HANG IN THE BALANCE

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“Qil uchida turibman” (“I hang in the balance”)

Soviet-style Lada car

25june23