{"id":236,"date":"2021-10-16T18:47:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T18:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/?p=236"},"modified":"2021-10-16T18:47:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T18:47:30","slug":"samarkand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/samarkand\/","title":{"rendered":"Samarkand"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 29px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/news\/samarkand\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.uzbekintour.com\/images\/Flag-Russian.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"29\" height=\"18\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 12px; color: green; font-weight: bold;\">RUS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_77 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e7c3f75de2e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69e7c3f75de2e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/samarkand\/#Introduction\" >Introduction<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/samarkand\/#Early_history\" >Early history<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/samarkand\/#19th_%E2%80%93_21st_centuries\" >19th &#8211; 21st centuries<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Introduction\"><\/span>Introduction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img class=\"alignright\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/images\/150px_Samarkand_Guri_Emir.gif\" alt=\"Guri Emir\" \/><span class=\"date\">Samarkand<\/span> is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the<a href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/great-silk-road\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"datei\"> Silk Road<\/span><\/a> between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city&#8217;s most famous landmarks. The Registan was the ancient centre of the city. In <span class=\"date\">2001<\/span>, UNESCO inscribed the 2750-year-old city on the World Heritage List as Samarkand &#8211; Crossroads of Cultures.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Early_history\"><\/span>Early history<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/images\/150px_Samarkand_Ak-Saray.gif\" alt=\"Ak Saray\" \/>Samarkand city in east-central Uzbekistan that is one of the oldest cities of Central Asia. In the <span class=\"date\">4th<\/span> century bc, then known as Maracanda, it was the capital of Sogdiana and was captured (<span class=\"date\">329<\/span>) by Alexander the Great.<br \/>\nThe city was later ruled by Central Asian Turks (<span class=\"date\">6th<\/span> century ad), the Arabs (<span class=\"date\">8th<\/span> century), the Samanids of Iran (<span class=\"date\">9th\u201310th<\/span> century), and various Turkic peoples (<span class=\"date\">11th\u201313th<\/span> century) before it was annexed by the Khwarezm-Shah dynasty (early <span class=\"date\">13th<\/span> century) and destroyed by the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan (<span class=\"date\">1220<\/span>).<br \/>\nAfter it revolted against its Mongol rulers (<span class=\"date\">1365<\/span>), Samarkand became the capital of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane), who made the city the most important economic and cultural centre in Central Asia. Samarkand was conquered by Uzbeks in <span class=\"date\">1500<\/span> and became part of the khanate of Bukhara.<br \/>\nBy the <span class=\"date\">18th<\/span> century it had declined, and from the <span class=\"date\">1720s<\/span> to the <span class=\"date\">1770s<\/span> it was uninhabited.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"19th_%E2%80%93_21st_centuries\"><\/span>19th &#8211; 21st centuries<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Only after it became a provincial capital of the Russian Empire (<span class=\"date\">1887<\/span>) and a railroad centre did it recover economically.<br \/>\nIt was briefly (<span class=\"date\">1924\u201336<\/span>) the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Samarkand consists of an old city dating from medieval times and a new section built after the Russian conquest of the area in the <span class=\"date\">19th<\/span> century.<br \/>\n<img class=\"alignright\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/images\/150px_Samarkand_Bibi_Khanum.gif\" alt=\"Bibi Khanum\" \/>The old city\u2019s plan consisted of streets converging toward the centre from six gates in the <span class=\"date\">5<\/span>-mile (<span class=\"date\">8<\/span>-kilometre) long, <span class=\"date\">11th<\/span>-century walls. The walls and gates were destroyed after the capture of the town by the Russians, but the plan of the medieval period is still preserved. The old city contains some of the finest monuments of Central Asian architecture from the <span class=\"date\">14th<\/span> to the <span class=\"date\">20th<\/span> century, including several buildings dating from the time when Samarkand was Timur\u2019s capital city.<br \/>\n<img class=\"alignleft\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/images\/150px_Samarkand_Observatory.gif\" alt=\"Observatory\" \/>Among the latter structures are the mosque of Bibi-Khanom (<span class=\"date\">1399\u20131404<\/span>), a building that was commissioned by Timur\u2019s favorite Chinese wife, and Timur\u2019s tomb itself, the Gur Amir mausoleum, built about <span class=\"date\">1405<\/span>.<br \/>\nTo the second half of the <span class=\"date\">15th<\/span> century belongs the Ak Saray tomb with a superb fresco of the interior. The Registan Square, an impressive public square in the old city, is fronted by several madrasahs (Islamic schools): that of Timur\u2019s grandson, the astronomer Ulugbeg (<span class=\"date\">1417\u201320<\/span>), and those of Shirdar (<span class=\"date\">1619\u20131635\/36<\/span>) and Tilakari (mid-<span class=\"date\">17th<\/span> century), which together border the square on three sides.<br \/>\nSamarkand has several other mausoleums, madrasahs, and mosques dating from the <span class=\"date\">15th<\/span> to the <span class=\"date\">17th<\/span> century, though they are not as impressive as the structures from Timur\u2019s day. The principal features of Samarkand\u2019s ancient buildings are their splendid portals, their vast coloured domes, and their remarkable exterior decorations in majolica, mosaic, marble, and gold. The historic city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in <span class=\"date\">2001<\/span>.<br \/>\nThe newer, European section of Samarkand, construction of which began in <span class=\"date\">1871<\/span>, expanded considerably during the Soviet period, and public buildings, houses, and parks were built. There are Uzbek and Russian theatres, a university (established <span class=\"date\">1933<\/span>), and higher-educational institutions for agriculture, medicine, architecture, and trade.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#top\">To Top<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Introduction Samarkand is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city&#8217;s most famous landmarks. The Registan &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/samarkand\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Samarkand&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[11,52],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/uzbekintour.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}