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Uzbekistan

Visit to the regal mausoleums and burial ground of Shah-i Zinda, site of Central Asia's most sacred Islamic shrine,

this place is sacred for Muslims, and every ruler sought to build a memorial in Shakhi-Zinda and bury their loved ones here. The buildings are made of blue and turquoise tiles and are considered masterpieces of architecture from the XI century to the beginning of the XX century.

Azia in the doorway

The name Shah-i-Zinda ,meaning "The living king", is connected with the legend that, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, is buried here.

Many of the private mausoleums have carved wooden doors leading to burial or internment sites.

Memorial museum for Mirzo Ulugbek, the famous astronomer.

Mirzo Ulugbek was able to create the most equipped astronomical centere of that time. The observatory was round in shape, its diameter reached 46 meters, and the height was at the level of a ten-story building. Although the structure was three-story, each floor was ten meters higher. Inside, along the line of the meridian, Ulugbek built a quadrant – a large 64 meters long instrument, located at an angle of 90 degrees. Before the invention of the telescope, such a quadrant served as a tool for measuring the height of the stars above the horizon and for determining the coordinate of the point from which the measurement was carried out. Ulugbek’s quadrant was the largest in the world at that time, and therefore the most accurate. The observatory consisted of two parts, and the one that was underground had been preserved.

Photo. He was able to calculate the Stellar Year length with unprecedented accuracy - 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, 8 seconds and the error was less than a minute.

Entrance to his observatory where you can still see his astronomical center of that time.

Side view of the mausoleum and gardens known as Tamerlane.

Go'ri Amir, is a mausoleum of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur,also known as Tamerlane, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It occupies an important place in the history of Central Asian Architecture as the precursor for and had influence on later Great Mughal architecture tombs, including Gardens of Babur in Kabul, Humayun's Tomb in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra, built by Timur's Indian descendants, Turco-Mongols that followed Indian culture with Central Asian influences.

Infamous wooden doors in Tamerlane.

Curse of Timur. When Soviet scientists wanted to open Tamerlane's tomb, rumors went around Samarkand that opening the tomb would curse those who opened it. Local leaders attempted to warn the excavation team of the "risks". The tomb is inscribed with two warnings that read "When I Rise From the Dead, The World Shall Tremble". Allegedly, once opened another inscription was discovered: “Whosoever Disturbs My Tomb Will Unleash an Invader More Terrible than I". Even though people claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists.

Aziz holding a drawing of Genghis Khan ....a rare if any depiction of what he looked like.

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