Samarkand
A city older than history itself — where Alexander the Great stood in awe, and Tamerlane built the capital of the world.
The face of Samarkand
At the crossroads of epochs
Samarkand is a city where history doesn't sit in museum displays — it resounds in every square. Founded at the crossroads of the Silk Road in the 7th century BC, it survived Alexander the Great, the Mongol invasion and became the capital of Tamerlane's empire.
The heart of the Registan
Today Samarkand is turquoise domes above clay walls, and it's impossible to tell the 15th century from the present day when the Registan lights up at dusk. The three madrasahs on the main square — Ulugbek, Sher-Dor and Tilla-Kari — form an ensemble unmatched anywhere in the world.
Mosaics and stars
A twenty-minute walk away you find the Shah-i-Zinda complex with 14th-century ceramic tiles, the Gur-Emir mausoleum under its ribbed turquoise dome, and Ulugbek's observatory — two hundred years ahead of Europe. Every wall here is a history book told in mosaic.
«I had heard that Samarkand was beautiful, but I never imagined it would be so magnificent.»
— Alexander the Great
Getting to Samarkand
What to see in Samarkand
Continue the journey
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