Samarkand: The Mirror of the World

This blog post will be a brief history of the heavenly city of Samarkand, from the middle of the first millennium B.C. to the present. Since the city’s significant development occurred during the rule of Timurid sultans (1370-1506), this period will be the main focus of this project. Traditionally, it was believed that Samarkand was founded by the semi-mythical hero, Afrasiab, of Firdausi’s Shahnameh (“Book of Kings”) (Blunt 11). The historic city of Marakanda (as Samarkand was at first called) was the capital of Sogdiana (Wood 68). The Behistan inscription of Darius I (522-486 B.C.) mentions Sogdiana as a province of Achaemenid Empire (Bulatova and Shishkina 44). Sogdiana is also mentioned in one of the books of Avesta, which is a collection of Zoroastrian sacred texts (44). In the accounts of historic writers of the first and second century such as Flavius Arrianus and Quintus Curtius Rufus, Samarkand was described as a beautiful, well-populated city with an impregnable citadel (Bulatova and Shishkina 45). In addition, archaeological discoveries on the hills of Afrasiab, the original site of the city, confirm that Samarkand was a significant city in the first millennium B.C. (45).

The western Silk Road city of Samarkand, which is located between the Syr Darya and Oxus rivers, has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times throughout its history (Wood 68). The ancient Zoroastrian city of Marakanda was conquered by the Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. (Bulatova and Shishkina 45). In 712, the Arab conquerors besieged Samarkand, establishing a religion that survived, and for the most part thrived, there until the introduction of communism in the current century (Blunt 11-12). In the tenth century, Samarkand fell under the control of Persian Samanids and became one of the greatest centres of education and the sciences (12). After Persians, Samarkand was ruled by Seljuq Turks until it was captured and destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1221 (12). The city was rebuilt in a new site a mile or two southwest of the deserted hills of Afrasiab during the fourteenth century by the Amir Timur ibn Taragai Bahadur (better known to the West as Tamerlane) (1336-1405) (Bulatova and Shishkina 49). Tamerlane was a legendary conqueror of the fourteenth century and the founder of the Timurid dynasty. “A Turkish speaker of Part-Mongolian extraction,” Tamerlane was born in Shahr-i-Sabz, a town near Samarkand (Magowan 33). During the period of 1386 to 1405, Tamerlane established an empire that stretched from Damascus to Delhi and included the southern regions of Russia (Bulatova and Shishkina 50). Only death stopped Tamerlane from reaching China and fulfilling his dream of conquering the world. He made Samarkand the capital of his empire and turned it into one of finest cities in Central Asia.

Tamerlane, the formidable ruler of Samarkand, was a great patron of art, literature, and science. Countless treasures and the best of artists, poets, scholars, and handicraft workers from the conquered countries were brought back to Samarkand (Bulatova and Shishkina 50). Samarkand’s position on the Silk Road, its many years of changing fortune, and Tamerlane’s conquests made the city a crossroads for various cultures. The architecture of the city is the best example of this cultural fusion. Magnificent monuments covered with gold and turquoise tiles and epigraphic decorations were built in Samarkand by the best craftsmen and architects brought from Isfahan, Baghdad, Damascus, and India (Wood 141). It is the aim of this blog post to introduce the reader to some of the most important architectural splendors of Samarkand. These major architectural monuments include the Shah-e-Zindeh compound, the enormous Bibi Kahnum mosque, and the Registan square. These sites are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and the pictures used in this blog entry are taken from the UNESCO website. It should be noted that this is a mere introduction and is, by no means, a comprehensive analysis of the architectural details and significance of these monuments. The goal is to familiarize the reader with these monuments and to show how they beautifully exemplify the fusion of art, religions, and cultures that occurred because of the trade routes of the Silk Road. Moreover, the focus of this project is on the fusion of Islamic and Persian elements despite the existence of the symbols of nomadic cultures of Mongols and Turks in the decoration of these monuments. As a Silk Road project, it is also interesting to mention the romance and the legendary stories that are associated with some of these architectural sites. Let’s start our journey by watching a YouTube video that shows us what the beautiful oasis city of Samarkand looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCiUGb9f7hI

The first monument to be described is the Shahe-e-Zendeh compound. As mentioned before, Samarkand fell under Muslim control in 712. Qutham ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, arrived in Samarkand around 676-77 to preach Islam (Soustiel and Porter 63). Qutham ibn Abbas was attacked and beheaded by local infidels. The tomb of Qutham ibn Abbas became an important pilgrimage site in the eleventh century (Bulatova and Shishkina 49). Since the eleventh century, many parts were added to this complex. However, the major development of this funerary complex occurred during the rule of Timurid sultans. Like the story of Samarkand itself, the origin of the Shah-e-Zendeh (“Living King”) is associated with a legend (Magowan 37). An amazing tale is told about Qutham ibn Abbas’s death: after the holy man was beheaded, he picked up his severed head and hid it in a well where he lives eternally. Therefore, the cemetery is called Shah-e-Zendeh or the “Living King” (Soustiel and Porter 63). The legendary tale ends like this: apparently, Tamerlane was fascinated with the story of the Living King so he asked one of his companions to go inside the well and probe its bottom. According to the legend, the companion found Hazrat Shah-e-Zendeh (“His Majesty the Living King”) and his golden palace at the bottom of the well (Soustiel and Porter 63). These kinds of legendary stories are reminiscent of a romance and mystery that is associated with the Silk Road. Whatever the truth of the legend, by Tamerlane’s order, the mausoleum of Qutham ibn Abbas was restored and a magnificent shrine was built in his honor.

Shah-e-Zendeh necropolis

Passing through the magnificent archway of the mosque pictured above, you enter the funerary complex of Shah-e-Zendeh. In a pathway leading to Qutham ibn Abbas’s shrine lie a series of mausolea for close relatives and companions of Tamerlane (Magowan 38). Like the city itself, wherever you look in this complex, you see a glazed turquoise dome popping out, “its blue more than rivaling the sky” (Magowan 31). The dome, in Islamic architecture, is the “symbol of the cosmic universe – the dome of heaven” (Magowan 41). Domes, like mosques and minarets, are part of the Islamic landscape (Soustiel and Porter 25). However, the monuments in the Shah-e-Zendeh complex are great examples of the fusion of Islamic elements with Persian artistry. The monuments in the Shah-e-Zendeh complex are famous for their gleaming, colorful, ceramic facades and their magnificent ceramic and illuminative ornamentation (Soustiel and Porter 16). Like other monuments in Samarkand, the monuments of this complex are made from bricks that blend with the muted colors of the surrounding desert and are adorned with epigraphic decorations. The extensive use of epigraphic decorations in bright colors such as turquoise and gold is evocative of Iranian architecture (Soustiel and Porter 30). It was the Iranians who first used bricks enameled in turquoise to decorate architectural monuments (Soustiel and Porter 30). The introduction of color in brick architecture, and particularly in epigraphy, occurred not only for aesthetic purposes but also for the purpose of legibility (Soustiel and Porter 30). The evocative turquoise color of the domes and the polychrome decorations of the monuments at the Shah-e-Zendeh complex, which make a dazzling contrast with the yellow-browns in their surroundings, attract one’s attention from afar. The Shah-i-Zindeh complex bears the evidence of great skill in decorative art. The ceilings, columns, and walls of architectural structures in this complex are decorated with geometric and floral designs typical of Islamic architectural ornament, elaborate Persian vegetal ornamentation, Kufic inscriptions from the Qur’an, and calligraphic bands of Persian poems.

The second monument is the imposing mosque of Bibi Khanum. The construction of this monument started in 1399 when Tamerlane returned from his successful campaign in India. From this campaign, he brought back craftsmen and almost hundred elephants that were used to build this magnificent monument dedicated to Tamerlane’s favorite wife, Saray Mulk Khanum (Magowan 55). The mosque is a combination of Islamic architecture and Persian four-iwan plan (Magowan 55). The aforementioned polychrome decorations and inscriptions are striking features of this monument as well. Tamerlane’s obsession with building lofty structures resulted in the collapse of the minarets and the dome of the mosque shortly after its completion. The Bibi Kanum mosque was restored in the late 1970s by the Soviets (Magowan 55). A legendary story has been told about a romantic encounter between the Persian architect of the mosque and Tamerlane’s wife. Apparently, while Tamerlane was away for another military campaign, this architect asked for a kiss from Saray Mulk as his price for completing the mosque. She hesitantly agreed and allowed the architect to kiss her through her veil. The Persian architect’s passionate kiss burned the veil and left a mark on her face. The princess tried to hide the mark from her husband by hiding behind her veil but Tamerlane finally found out about this incident. The poor princess was burned by Tamerlane’s order. As for the architect’s fate, he was pursued by Tamerlane’ men to the top of the mosque’s dome where, it is said he turned into an angel with wings and flew to Mashhad (Magowan 56).

The other important site is the Registan, Samarkand’s central square. Tamerlane’s grandson, Ulugh Beg, started the construction of this square in 1417 (Magowan 73). He built a religious academy (madrasah) named after him and other structures in Registan square. Unlike his grandfather, Ulugh Beg devoted most of his life to the sciences and not to war. He was a great astronomer and founded an observatory in Samarkand for the study of stars (Bulatova and Shishkina 52). Samarkand, during Ulugh Beg’s rule, became one of the major artistic and scientific centers of the Central Asia. Today, there are three elaborately decorated educational institutions in the Registan square: the Ulugh Beg Madrasah, the Shir dar Madrasah (1619-36), and the Tilla Kari Madrasah (1646-60) (Magowan 76).

Shir Dar Madrasah, Registan

Shir Dar Madrasah, Lions gate, Registan

Here is a picture of the Shir Dar Madrasah monument, which took its name from the two orange and blue lions (shir in Persian) that decorate the spandrels of its entrance (Magowan 16). This monument has a magnificent ribbed dome decorated with colorful tiles with Islamic and Persian ornaments and Kufic inscriptions. The Kufic inscriptions on the entrance of this monument include the Muslim proclamation of faith, Shahada (Magowan 78). For Lord Curzon, who visited Samarkand around 1888,
The Registan was originally and is still, even in its ruins, the noblest public square in the world. I know nothing in the East approaching it in massive simplicity and grandeur, and nothing in Europe …What Samarkand must have been in its prime, when these great fabrics emerged from the mason’s hands, intact and glittering with all the effulgence of the rainbow, their chambers crowded with students, their sanctuaries thronged with pilgrims, and their corporations endowed by kings, the imagination can still make some endeavor to depict. (quoted in Wood 142)
http://www.youtube.com/watch%20?v=yVDY4oPL9Fc

Tilla Kari Madrasah, Registan

Samarkand continued to be everyone’s favorite city. During the eighteenth century, Samarkand briefly came under Chinese rule and after that became dependent upon the kingdom of Bukhara (Blunt 12). Toward the middle of the nineteenth century, Samarkand fell to the Russians. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Samarkand became the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, and is today a modern metropolis in Uzbekistan (Blunt 12). Most of Samarkand’s architectural monuments were restored under the Soviets. Today, the city is not only one of the tourist magnets of the world but also is a Mecca for art historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists.

Works Cited

Blunt, Wilfrid. The Golden Road to Samarkand. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973. Print.

Bulatova, Vera Anreevna, and Galina Vasil’evna Shishkina. Samarkan: A Museum in the

Open. Toshkent: Ghafur Ghulom nomidagi Adabiet va sanat nashrieti, 1986. Print.

Magowen, Robin. Fabled Cities of Central Asia: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva. New York:

Abbeville Press, 1989. Print.

Soustiel, Jean, and Yves Porter. Tombs of Paradise: The Shah-e Zende in Samarkand and

Architectural Ceramics of Central Asia. Saint-Remy-en-L’Eau: MOntelle Hayot, 2003. Print.

Wood, Frances. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia. Berkeley: University

of California Press, 2002. Print.