Category: SAMARKAND

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: SHAH-I-ZINDA

Published on by jacquelinemhadel3 Comments

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)

SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN 🇺🇿: REGISTAN SQUARE

Published on by jacquelinemhadel2 Comments
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