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Samarkand, the Jewel of the Silk Road

Jewel of the Silk Road

Samarkand was once world’s most beautiful city.

Evil Genghis Khan destroyed this Silk Road treasure.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan – This fabled oasis, on the fringes of the Kyzyl Kum desert, may well be the most fascinating city in all of Central Asia.

Visiting Samarkand had long been a dream for many, say, from days as a young student, intrigued by Far Eastern history, particularly the story of the Great Silk Road linking China and the Mediterranean.

Samarkand had been an important stop on the ancient trade route.

With the Republic of Uzbekistan gaining its independence in 1991, a dream of visiting became a reality.
Out of Silk Road cities, Samarkand stands out as a priceless gem in Uzbekistan’s crown.

On a typical Silk Road journey, your group will be captivated by the 2,500-year-old walled fortress city of Khiva in the west, the breathtakingly beautiful architecture of the city of Bukhara and the monuments of Tashkent, the capital. 

“Just wait until you get to Samarkand,” our guide Rustam kept saying, “We have saved the best for last, you’ll see.” Throughout the entire tour, Rustam, a Tatar and native of Samarkand, spoke passionately of the city of his birth.

Our afternoon arrival by bus from Bukhara started rather badly. We just happened to arrive on the same day when UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan was in town for a visit.

The major streets had been closed to traffic. Just my luck, with so little time to visit before returning to Tashkent, the detours and delays were taking up precious sightseeing time.

By the time I had schlepped my luggage up the red carpeted stairs of the Afrosiab Palace Hotel, which had obviously been laid out for the highly-regarded Mr. A, I was in a foul mood. Sensing my disappointment, Rustam came to the rescue. He wasn’t about to let me leave without seeing his beautiful city and hastily made arrangements for a special tour.

Since its establishment in the Zarafshan Valley, around 500 BC, Samarkand, legendary home of Scheherazade, is one of the world’s most ancient cities.   

Legend tells of the mythical ruler Samar searching for a place to settle and, coming upon a beautiful oasis with clean air, he dug a well and founded Samarkand.

It had been called by other names – in the beginning, Afrosiab (named for the mound on which it was built) and Marakanda to the ancient Greeks.

A city of 400,000 inhabitants, it celebrated it 2,500^th anniversary in 1970 and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In its long history it has gone through both turbulent and prosperous times.

Destroyed by the troops of Alexander the Great in the third century BC, it was destroyed again during the Arab conquest.

After becoming a major trading centre on the Great Silk Road, it was razed by Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan in the 13^th century.  A century later, conqueror Tamerlane made it the capital of his empire.

History has produced some brutal conquerors, but none more ruthless than Timur, known in the West as Tamerlane.

Born in 1336, in the valley of Shahr-i-Sabez, just south of here, he was son of a chief, of one of Mongol tribes descended from the hordes of Genghis Khan.

Being a warrior, it was his desire to control the trade routes that linked the East and West and, eventually, he ruled an empire that stretched from Mongolia to Anatolia (Turkey) and from India to the gates of Moscow.

Word of his cruelty struck both fear and awe across Asia. He as known as Timur the Lame (after being struck in the leg by an arrow), “The Viper” and “The Terror of the Earth.” In a victory at Sivas, Turkey, it is said that he buried over 4,000 warriors alive.

And, after taking Baghdad, he built 120 columns, with the 90,000 severed heads of its citizens. Definitely, not a nice man.

But, despite his penchant for butchery, Tamerlane was also a builder. Under his rule, Samarkand developed into one of the most beautiful cities in the known world.

Defense walls were erected, wide avenues and squares were laid out, gardens, orchards and ponds were created and beautiful buildings were constructed by the best architects of the time – libraries, madrassas (Muslim schools of learning), mosques, mausoleums and palaces.

Caravanserais (inns with courtyards) were built for travelers and traders. Many structures from his rule have been rebuilt and restored, making Samarkand one of the most fascinating cities on a Silk Road tour.

 Conquering China was to be Tamerlane’s last great campaign, but it was never realized. He was struck ill, and died a few kilometres north of Samarkand in 1405. 

His grandson Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) became governor of Samarkand, but didn’t exhibit his grandfather’s passion for conquest.

In contrast, he is credited for bringing a period of peace and tranquility to Samarkand.

A patron of the arts and sciences, he was also a great scholar and renowned astronomer considered on the level of Copernicus.

 The ornate domed Gur-i-Amir mausoleum, in the heart of Samarkand, is the burial place of Tamerlane, his four sons and his grandsons.

Here, Uzbekistan’s revered hero is entombed beneath a massive slab of Mongolian jade, said to be the largest such stone in the world.

On the tomb, an inscription in Arabic reads: “When I rise from the dead, the whole world will tremble.” That inscription most likely gave birth to the legend that tells of a curse being put upon anyone who dared to disturb his bones resulting in a catastrophe far greater than all the destruction caused by Tamerlane.

The magnificent Registan, at the heart of Samarkand, is the city’s landmark and most-visited site.

Three madrassas face the square and dominate the skyline, their turquoise tiled domes and blue and gold facades gleaming in the sunlight.

The highest and most impressive, Madrassa Ulughbek, was erected in the 15^th century and is flanked by domed minarets. Opposite it is the 17^th century Sher-Dor madrassa and to the north is
the Tilla-Kari madrassa.

Another landmark is the Bibi Khanym mosque (1399), named for Tamerlane’s favorite wife. When completed, it was among the most colossal monuments in the Islamic world.

Another legend tells of the Chinese wife hiring an architect to erect a monument to Tamerlane when he was away on one of his conquests. While building it, the architect fell in love with her and demanded a kiss. When she refused, he threatened to stop work on the monument.

She reluctantly allowed him to kiss her but his lips left an indelible print on her cheek.

On seeing the mark on his return to Samarkand, Tamerlane had the architect beheaded, then ordered that all women henceforth be veiled so that no one but their masters could see their beauty.

Shahi-Zinda necropolis, on the slope of Afrosiad, has been called the most remarkable of Samarkand’s monuments.

It consists of a complex of mausoleums, some with blue cupolas, containing burial vaults of Timur’s closest relatives.

Considered a holy place by Muslim, the sacred area on the hilltop is said to be the burial of Kusam, son of Abbas, cousin of the prophet Mohammed, who brought Islam to Samarkand. A steep staircase leads to the entrance at the top and it’s said that if you count the stairs, both going up and coming down, and if the number is the same each way, you are without sin.