The incredible Samarkand

On May 22, 1403, Ruy González de Clavijo left, through the port of Seville, on his way to Samarkand. González de Clavijo was heading, as an ambassador, a mission that was sent by King Henry III of Castile to the court of the great emperor Timor. The mission last three years and González de Clavijo returned to Seville on March 1406. Samarkand had been chosen by Timor as the capital of his empire, at that time, the largest empire in the world. Timor is one of the most important figures in the history of Central Asia. His origin was Turkish Mongol. Timor dedicated most of his life to military conquest. He was able to add to his empire an important part of Central Asia, Persia (Iran), Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria and part of the Caucasus. Afterwards, he conquered the northern part of India, being one of the bearers of Islam into the Sub-Indian continent. Timor died in 1405 when he was advancing in his quest to conquer China.

Despite his battles, Timor dedicated time to his capital and it was during his government and up until the middle of the XVI century, that the beautiful city of Samarkand was built. Of this period we still have some spectacular buildings. Samarkand is located in the middle of the Silk Route and was since the V century a.d. a resting place for many caravans that trafficked between the east and the west.

Before Timor, Samarkand was already known as the Pearl of the East and the Jewel of Islam. Alexander the Great in the year 329 a.d. found some ruins of a city that had been destroyed and even then, affirmed that it was more beautiful than he had ever imagined. Xuan Sang from China visited Samarkand in 1630. The poet and mathematician Omar Kayan was brought up in Samarkand and many of his poems were written there. Great travelers admired Samarkand, among these Ibn Battuta, the Taoist monk Chang Xun and Marco Polo. In the XVII century the capital of Uzbekistan passed from Samarkand to Bukhara and with the opening of the maritime routes, the Silk Route entered into its period of decadence; Samarkand passed from being the center of the universe in the X century to a forgotten and abandoned city in the XVIII century. Later, in 1960, under Soviet domination, parts of the city of Samarkand, specially those sections built during the time of Timor and his grandson, were rebuilt and it is what we have today as the souvenir of the great architecture of the time.

The heart of Samarkand is the Registan, which is a central plaza built in what was originally the center of the city. The Registan is a square formed by three madras built in a period of two centuries and which were a definitive influence in Islamic architecture throughout the world. Madras are Islamic academies for the formation of clerics dedicated to the study of the Koran. Today these madras are tourist centers. There are no Islamic schools there at this time; However, their beauty and the feeling of history is still strongly present.

When I arrived for the first time to the Registan I had the sensation of admiration and peace that came from the harmony and the beauty of its buildings, similar to the same sensation that I had when I saw for the first time the Taj Majal; a majestic construction for which I had no reference. The first madras in the Registan was built by Ulugbek, the grandson of the great Timor. Later in 1519 the Shir Dar madras was built in front of the first one and was a design that was nearly identical. The third madras was built in 1646, perpendicular to the two first madras, forming a square which is today the central plaza. In addition to the Registan, one must visit the Bibi Kahn mosque built by the favorite wife of Timor, Bibi Kahn. On of the legends is that the architect of this mosque was very much in love with the emperor’s wife and to finish the mosque, especially to finish a minaret that was missing on the mosque, he asked the favorite wife of Timor if he could give her a kiss. Bibi Khan was in a rush to finish the mosque before her husband came back from his campaign in India and agreed to the petition of the architect. When Timor returned he found that the kiss was marked on the cheek of his wife. The architect, under the fear of having been discovered, went up to the minaret of the mosque and flew to Mecca. Timor, to avoid a similar occurrence in the future, ordered all the married women in Samarkand to use a veil. Despite this, today the veil is not frequently seen in Samarkand.

A similar reflection of Islamic architecture with a strong influence of the ceramic tile of turquoise color of Islamic architecture, is the Shah-i-Zinda medieval cemetery. In this cemetery, Kushan Ibn Abbas, a cousin of the prophet, is buried. In Shah-i-Zinda you also find a number of small mausoleums, each with an incredible beauty. Also, an obligatory visit is to the mausoleum Gu-Emir [Gur Emir] where Timor is buried together with his grandsons Muhamet Sultam and Ulug Bek. A curiosity is the Ulugbek Observatory, where Ulugbek dedicated himself to observe the starts and where he had calculated the exact duration of the year.

The Uzbeks are amiable people and they receive tourists with great enthusiasm. Some women still dress in traditional dresses and they keep the custom of having gold teeth. The woman that can show the greater number of gold teeth is the one with the highest rank and possibly, for some the most beautiful. In the Registan you find groups of Uzbeks ready to pose for pictures and show us their class, that is, their gold teeth. However, they do not follow precept of Timor of carrying the veil; otherwise, how could we see their beautiful teeth. Language is a problem for the tourist. Uzbeks, in addition to their own language, speak Russian. Very few people speak English. This makes communication difficult, except through smiles and gestures.

Of course, today it is not as difficult to get to Samarkand as it was in the time of Ruy González. We also will not find a figure there such as Timor. To get to Samarkand you have to flight directly to the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent and from there take a flight to Samarkand or, for the more adventurous travelers, take a train or possibly even a bus. Those who visit Samarkand sometimes also take the trip to Bukhara, which is more commercial and arts and crafts center than Samarkand.

What was at one time the Silk Route is now converting itself into the Oil Route. Central Asia counts with two of the largest producers of oil in the world: Azerbaijan and Kazajstan. Uzbekistan has already started the explorations. What was the route of the camels three centuries ago is now occupied by great pipelines carrying oil and gas to Europe and to Russia and possibly, I assume in a not to distant future, to China. The luck is that Samarkand is not the commercial center of Uzbekistan; therefore, I am sure modernity and black gold will not be able to destroy it; after all, it is one of those cities that we all feel belongs to mankind.