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The Registan, Samarkand
184 ASIA

The three buildings surrounding Samarkand's Registan Square comprise one of
the world's most spectacular architectural ensembles. In the 15th century, Ulug
Beg, grandson of the Turkic conqueror Timur, built a group of mosques,
caravanserais (merchants' inns), and the U lug Beg,
a medresa (Koranic school), around the city's sandy
market square. With the exception of the Ulug Beg,
the other buildings were later destroyed and
replaced in the 17th century by two more
medresas, the Sher Dor and Til Ia Kari.

BUILDING THE REGISTAN
The three medresaswere built over a period of
230 years. The first was the Ulug Beg, begun
in 1417. Directly opposite, the Sher Dor ("Lion
Bearer"), modeled on the Ulug Beg, was Prayer hall
added two centuries I ater. Its unconventional
f a~ade depicts live animals and hum an faces
Stunning interior of the
(an interpretation of the Koran forbids this) Tilla Kari Medresa
The combined mosque and medresa of Tilla
Kari ("Gold Decorated") was added in the gJ Tilla Kari Medresa
Lavish gold-leaf gilding
mid-17th century. Its ceiling appears domed,
covers the Mecca-facing
but is, in fact, flat-an effect created by the
mihrab (pulpit) beneath
decreasing pattern size toward the center. the dome chamber.
The two later buildings were inspired by the
earlier Timurid style.

A CENTER OF SCIENCE AND LEARNING
With room for over 100 students and teachers, gJ Ulug Beg Medresa -----------'-----"'..::--,---=
I odged in 52 cells around the courtyard, the The fao;ade consists of a central
arched pishtaq (porch) flanked by
Ulug Beg was effectively a university. Unlike
two minarets. The elaborate tiling
the traditi anal medresa, which was wholly of stars is in keeping with Ulug
devoted to I slam ic studies, students here also Beg's passion for astronomy.
received an education in mathematics and the
sciences. This was a reflection of Ulug Beg's
passions. Known as the "astronomer king," he
endowed Sam arkand with one of the world's
earliest observatories a two-story structure
Courtyard
built on a hill and meant to serve as a giant
This has two arcaded tiers
astronomical instrument pointing at the of cells for students and
heavens. Only its circular foundations survive. professors. -------__,-;:•-.:ijF=
GOLDEN SAMARKAND
Until recently, the portion of Central Asia once MATHEMATICS
called Transoxariia (roughly modern Uzbekistan,
and parts of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), Ulug Beg employed a mathematical
was isolated and largely forgotten. But in the consultant in the bu il ding of his
Middle Ages, it was the glittering center of the medresa, Ghiyath ad-Din Jamshid
al-Kashi, whose treatise on
Islamic world, its cities boasting grand palaces
mathematics and astronomy has
and mosques. Most magnificent of all was
Samarkand. Already renowned by the time of survived to the present day.
Alexander the Great, the city owes its legendary
reputation to the leader of the Timurid empire,
Timur (1336--1405) Brutal and despotic, Timur
was responsible for around 17 million deaths
KEY DATES
as a result of his military campaigns. However,
(, 1417-20 1619 1647 1932-52 2001
with the riches he accrued, and the artisans he
captured and sent back to Sam arkand, he bui It Construct on of Completion of The 1illa Kari Restor at ion of The Registan is
a city that became a political, religious, cultural, the Ulug Beg the Sher Dor Medresa is the Ulug Beg designated a
Medresa. Medresa. finished. Medresa. UNESCO World
and commercial capital whose influence
Heritage Site.
extended across the known world.