Handpicked experience · Samarkand
★ 5Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Lions painted on a madrasa against the grain of Islamic art, a king who timed the year to half a minute, and a tomb opened three days before an invasion.
An unhurried stop at the square the city is famous for
Guided access to the mausoleum where the dynasty is buried
The remains of one of the most accurate observatories of its age
Admissions handled in advance at every site on the route
A full day from Tashkent to Samarkand and back, taking in the three madrasas on the great square, the tomb of Timur and the remains of a fifteenth-century observatory, with a guide and all monument entries arranged.
Around three hundred kilometres each way, so the travelling is a real part of the day and the start is early. Once there, the sites are close enough together that the walking is short, and entry is handled for you at each door. It is a long day that delivers a compressed version of a city most people give two or three to.
The madrasa on the eastern side of the square carries two great cats across its face, each with a sun rising from its back and a human face in the sun, chasing a white deer. Depicting living creatures on a religious building runs against the usual grain of Islamic architecture, and the builders did it anyway in the seventeenth century. Nobody has satisfactorily explained why, which is part of why people stand in front of it for so long.
Timur's grandson Ulugh Beg was a working astronomer who happened to rule an empire. His observatory, built in the 1420s, was based on a curved marble arc some forty metres in radius, sunk into a trench cut through rock so that it would not move. With it he catalogued over a thousand stars and calculated the length of the year to within about half a minute of the modern figure. He was murdered in 1449 on his own son's orders, and the observatory was levelled soon after; what survives is the underground portion of the arc.
Timur's grave was excavated by a Soviet anthropologist in June 1941. The story attached to it — that an inscription warned of an invader loosed upon the world if the tomb were disturbed — is impossible to verify, but the dates are not: the dig opened the crypt on the nineteenth of June, and Germany invaded the Soviet Union on the twenty-second. The same examination confirmed the old accounts of Timur's injuries, showing a man lamed in the right leg and arm.
The congregational mosque nearby was built at the turn of the fifteenth century from the spoils of a campaign in India, on a scale that outran what the engineering of the time could hold up. Bricks were reportedly falling from it within a few years of completion. It has been partly rebuilt in the modern era, and it remains a lesson in ambition outrunning structure.
Expect a very early departure and a late return. Shoulders and knees must be covered at the monuments, and women should carry a scarf. Summer here is severe, with very little shade on the square. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
A full day, with roughly three hundred kilometres to cover each way. Departure is very early and the return is late — unavoidable if the city and the journey both have to fit between one sunrise and one bedtime.
The seventeenth-century madrasa on the east side of the square shows two big cats with human-faced suns on their backs, pursuing a white deer. Living creatures on a religious facade cut against the usual rule, and no explanation has ever satisfied everyone.
Ulugh Beg used a curved marble arc about forty metres in radius, sunk into rock so it could not shift, to catalogue over a thousand stars and calculate the length of the year to within about half a minute of the modern value.
He was murdered in 1449 on the orders of his own son, and the observatory was demolished shortly afterwards. Only the underground section of the great arc survives.
The dates are documented: a Soviet team opened the crypt on 19 June 1941 and Germany invaded three days later. The inscription said to have warned against disturbing the grave cannot be verified.
It was built at the turn of the fifteenth century on a scale beyond the engineering of the day, using the spoils of a campaign in India. Bricks were reportedly dropping from it within a few years.
Yes — admission to the monuments on the itinerary is arranged, so there is no queuing for tickets at each door. Meals and drinks are separate.