Samarkand

Panoramic view of Registan Square, showing the Sher-Dor, 1619-36, (right), Tillya-Kori, 1646-60, (centre) and Ulugh Beg, 1417-20, (left) Madrasahs, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, pictured on July 16, 2010, at dawn. The Tillyah-Kori (gilded) Madrasah is part of the Registan Ensemble, surrounding a magnificent square. Commissioned by Yalangtush Bakhadur it is not only a school but also the grand mosque. The Sher-Dor Madrasah, commissioned by Yalangtush Bakhodur as part of the Registan ensemble, and designed by Abdujabor, takes its name, Having Tigers, from the double mosaic (restored in the 20th century) on the tympans of the portal arch showing suns and tigers attacking deer. The lancet arched portal of the Ulugh Beg Madradsah, commissioned by the scholarly Ulugh Beg, faces the square and high well-proportioned minarets flank the corners. It was restored in the early twentieth century. Samarkand, a city on the Silk Road, founded as Afrosiab in the 7th century BC, is a meeting point for the world's cultures. Its most important development was in the Timurid period, 14th to 15th centuries. Picture by Manuel Cohen

Picture No

13425377

Media ID

45091543

Size

13397px x 4145px (11.8MB)

Credit

Manuel Cohen / Mary Evans

Source

Photograph by Manuel Cohen