Samarkand - September 18, 2007

September 18, 2007

We arrived earlier than most groups to tour The Registan, only a short distance from our hotel. The Registan is an assemblage of three huge medressas situated around an expansive courtyard in the west, north and east compass positions. As we stood in the center, almost surrounded by these massive structures with their intricate azure mosaics, we felt it was the most beautiful man-made site we’d seen on this trip. The first structure and the oldest is Ulughbek’s Medressa, taking only three years to build and completed in1420. Ulughbek was a son of Timur and the ancient astronomer whose observatory we visited yesterday. When he became the leader, Ulughbek extended an invitation to artisans throughout the region to use their skills to create this medressa and mosque. The beautiful mosaics were cleverly designed to include a myriad of stars. It was frowned upon to use secular images like this in Islamic art, but under the guise of creativity it was allowed. It is known that Ulughbek taught mathematics and astronomy at this medressa.

Opposite the Ulughbek Medressa is the Sher Dor Medressa, finished in 1636. Within the mosaic design near the top of this facade is what looks like two roaring tigers, and rising above each tigers’ back is what looks like the sun with a smiling face. These are striking in their color and appearance and stand out in contrast to the surrounding classic designs. It makes you wonder why the sun has a smiling face looking down at the people, but perhaps it is laughing in defiance of the Islamic prohibition against depicting live animals. The tradition for entering a building is stepping through with the right foot first and when leaving, leave by stepping backwards and bowing out of the room. We stepped inside this medressa, and like many others we have seen, the former classrooms are now individual shops. One of the shops sells musical instruments, and our guide arranged for a demonstration of local instruments by the proprietor. We listened to several very unusual guitar-like stringed instruments, having anywhere between two and eleven strings. Some of the bodies were made from mulberry and covered behind the strings with the skin of a goat or membrane from the heart of a bull.

The Tilla-Kari Medressa, completed in 1660, is situated between the other two. As we stepped inside there was a Japanese film crew with lights, a boom and camera filming a documentary for a television station similar to the History Channel. Their lighting apparatus brilliantly lit the interior making it easier to take some good photos. Gold leaf sparkled everywhere, which is why it has the name Tilla-Kari, meaning gold covered. You run out of adjectives to describe places like this, but hopefully the Japanese film will do it justice; our cameras can not.

The Registan complex is amazing, and is claimed to be one of the most beautiful places in Central Asia. We could hardly believe we stood there. It certainly was the visual piece-de-resistance of our trip.

Our next stop took us to the tombs at Shahr-I-Zindah. This place consists of tomb after tomb after tomb, with graves form centuries old up to the present day. Most of the tombs belong to Timur and his descendants with azure tile work adorning all of the structures. It seemed to have no end, to the point that one’s eyes tire from the repetitiveness. In one mausoleum, our group happened to be in the room thought to be the grave of Qusam ibn-Abbas, a relative of Mohammed, when a mullah began chanting from the Quran. Quietly and solemnly, we sat and listened to this unplanned experience. While this was happening, other tourists did not enter the room and after we left we asked the guide about the meaning of what we heard. Galib told us about this mullah, a religious leader who studied for four years, headed to Tashkent for six years of training at the Islamic University and then was assigned to this area. The mullah had chanted from the Quran and then spoke a prayer asking protection for the tourists on their journey.

Some other interesting sights in the Tomb of the Living King: an upright black marble tombstone etched with the image of a man, his race car and his racing bike; a domed grave marker with a carved white stone shawl lying on it, signifying that the woman had been to Mecca; an ancient domed grave marker with another smaller half round dome on top, meaning the death of a pregnant woman.

We headed to Bibi-Khanyn Mosque, the largest of Timur’s structures, 109 by 168 meters, built between 1399 to 1404. We heard the story of how Timur’s wife had the mosque built when he was away for a long time. The architect fell in love with her and would not finish construction until she allowed him to kiss her. She relented, but the kiss left a mark on her cheek that Timur noticed when he returned. He had the architect executed and ruled that women should wear veils from then on so they could not tempt other men. Inside, an enormous stone Quran stand sits in the courtyard, and supposedly, any woman who crawls under it will be blessed with many children. You can see how worn the stone has become from centuries of this activity. We visited a section of the mosque that is deteriorating badly, with exposed timbers, falling stucco and large cracks in the arches. Although faint, you can still see some colors in the frescoes on the undamaged surfaces. We were praying that the building wouldn’t collapse as we walked through the area under the dome. One minor tremor and I can’t imagine that it will still be standing.

Next to Bibi-Khanym is the Main Bazaar which is the wildest and craziest place since experiencing the Kashgar Market in China. Although this bazaar does not have livestock, it has about everything else one could possibly want. There is table after table with large heaps of spices (great aromas), herbs, garlic, potatoes, eggs, bread, nuts, dried apricots, raisins, candy, sweets and endless other items. A sense of organization did exist within the chaos. In one area the fish mongers displayed their catch, whole fish with red gills and some fish already breaded and fried. Surprisingly, the smell wasn’t offensive, just a touch of fishiness, considering that the fish were lying on newspaper on the ground and in the sun. The fish must have been very fresh. We interacted with the locals who were so happy to meet and talk with us, asking to take their photo and send it to them. Gold-capped teeth flashed continuously. One question we all wondered about was who were the customers? With many merchants selling the same products, how did they ever make a living? We understand that going to market isn’t just to buy and sell; it is also to talk and exchange information.

We finally had a free afternoon to relax and pack for our final leg into Tashkent. Periods of free time were few and far between.

Samarkand did not disappoint us. Its legend and reputation as the most beautiful city is confirmed in our minds. To quote James Elroy Flecker in his poem,”The Golden Journey to Samarkand”

We travel not for trafficking alone,
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned.
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.

Good bye from dazzling Samarkand,

Tamara, Rich and Garry

Captions: 1) Gold Tilla-Kari Medressa at Registan 2) Local women with gold teeth shopping at Main Market 3) Tombstone at Shahr-I-Zindah(Tomb of the Living King)
4) Tigers over prtal at Sher Doi Medressa at the Registan 5) Registan complex
6) Bibi-Khanyn Mosque