March 19, 2004 - April 03,2004

Day 14  Thursday  March 31, 2004
Samarkand
Submitted by Maria Lunow and Barbara Shelley

We left the Hotel at 8:30 a.m. Our tour guide for today was Valentina. The National TV Station followed us for a short time - filming for the country's tourism interests.Currently the official language is Uzbec; Russian, Tajic and then misc. languages including English are spoken; most people speak eight languages. As many as 100 tribes have lived in Samarkand including 300 years under Mongolian rule.In 329 BC when the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great captured it, Samerkand was known as Maracanda. When he entered the city and saw it was so beautiful, he told his soldiers not to destroy and instructed them to marry the local women. At that time the city was approximately 220 hectares with a population of 300,000. In the 7th Century AD it became a way station on the Silk Road from China to Europe and was visited by Marco Polo in the 13th Century.

From the 6th to 13th Centuries it grew into a city more populous than today; changing hands every couple of centuries: Western Turks, Arabs, Persian Samanids, Karakhan and Seljuq Turks, Mongolian Karakitay and Khorezmshah have all ruled here - before being obliterated by Jenghiz Khan in 1220. In 1370 Timur decided to make Samarkand his capital, and over the next 35 years forged an almost  mythical city.  Central Asia's economic and cultural epicenter. His grandson Ulughbek ruled until 1449 and made it an intellectual center as well. Samarkand became a Russian city in 1868 and after that many artifacts were sent to Russia. The Soviets developed a city plan with modern blocks of flats with Regenstan Square in the middle.Valentina mentioned the political game of the 18th Century. The English called it the Great Game; for the Russians it was the Tournament of Shadows. This was the backdrop of the first cold war between east and west and the scramble for control of what was between them. The history of Central Asia from the beginning of the 19th century onward is seen in the context of the Great Game, for this was the main reason for Russian interest in the region.

There is a 2.2 sq km site called Afrasiab where Russian excavations started in 1908. Discoveries included a big citadel with double walls and catapults. They found kilns, pottery (sun dried), china, big bricks on the wall with pieces of wood here and there for earthquake protection also a very wide river (Amud Ayria River).

Coins and metal were found - signs of an advanced civilization. There were ceramic pipes for water irrigation 10-12,000 years old. At that  time they had drop irrigation. They had hot, spicy foods. Ceramics from the 2nd and 3rd Centuries consisted of flat bowls and dishes.

Religions:

- Paganism Each family had fire altars and rock signs to inform ahout periods.

- The Zorastrians did not bury their people; bones were placed in ossuaries.

- Buddhism There were altars and big statues of Buddha which the Mongols destroyed in 1220.

Inflation was typical and coins were used as jewellery. Metalic minerals and mercury were used; bone knuckles were used to play backgammon. Alabaster and paper were mixed to produce buttons, rings, etc. They had containers for ink and pens. Each family had ceramics with writing on them for religious purposes. Glazed Turquoise and henna were also used for symbolic purposes.

Mural Paintings - They had special components to keep the murals from crashing. (ie: they were long- lasting). In a 11 x 11 excavation there was found stucco painted murals from a palace in the 6th Century. The windows were at the ceiling with frescoes on the walls and carpets on the floors. They had artistic ways of describing people, elephants, birds, horses, clothes/silk clothes, monks, miliary people; a different civilization was represented here. Boat (maybe queen's) fish, swastika - symbol of eternity, lions, leopards  and tigers.

On our way to the Afrasiab Museum we passed a very old Mosque. The Japanese and French have excavated only about 10% of this area and found the city Macaaranda with walls, moat, draw bridges, bazars and caravanseri.

THE AFRASIAB MUSEUM which we visited has a site plan, chronological maps and models. The only real attraction was fragments of some 7th Century frescoes depicting hunting, an ambassadorial procession and visits by local rulers.

 THE ULUGHBEK OBSERVATORY Timur's Grandson Ulughbek was probably more famous as an astronomer than as a ruler (1394-1449) The remains of an immense (30m) astrolab for observing star positions consists of the instrument's curved track was unearthed in 1908 by Russian teacher and amateur archaeologist, Vladmir Vyatkin. This is the immobile part of the 15th Century Sextant. Ulughbek charted star positions, discovering 200 previously unknown stars and did accurate calculations of the length of the year. The Islamic clergy resented his preference for science over scripture as a source of truth and his own son, Abdul Latif arranged his murder by decapitation in 1449; the observatory was razed to the ground although his work was saved and published posthumous.

We then visited THE GURI AMIR MAUSOLEUM

Timur, two sons and two grandsons (including Ulughbek) lie beneath this modest mausoleum topped by a fluted azure dome. The simple inner room was original decorated in gold; in the center is Timur's stone, a single block of dark-green jade. The plain marble marker to the left of Timur's is that of Ulughbek; and to the right is that of Mersaid Baraka, one of Timur's teachers. In front lies Mohammed Sultan, Timur's grandson and the stones behind Timur's are the graves of his sons Shah Rukh and Miran Shah.Behind these lies Sheikh Umar, the most revered of Timur's teachers; the pole with the horse-hair tassel further identifies him as a Muslim "Saint". The Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov opened the crypts in 1941 and, among other things, confIrmed that Timur was tall (1. 7m) and lame in the right leg and right arm and that Ulughbek died from being beheaded. With the formation of a strong centralized state, Emir Timur promoted the rising economy and the development of the countries and trade. Samarkand, the capital of his state turned into a great economical, political and cultural center. The Timurs ruled for 10 years and lived in a Golden Age.

Central Asia gave the world outstanding scientists such as:
Abu Ali Ibn-Sina the greatest medic whose Canon of Medicine was the standard textbook for western doctors until the 17th Century.

AI-Khorezmi, a mathematician who gave his name to algorithm, the mathematical process behind addition and multiplication. Al-Beruni from Khorezm was the world's foremost ~astronomer in the 11th Century He knew that the earth rotated and that it circled around the sun, estimating the distance to the moon to within 20 Km. He also produced the world's finest encyclopedia.
 

We then drove to THE SHAHR-I-ZINDAH, a street of tombs feature the most stunning tile work in Central Asia. This street has also been called"the Stairway to Heaven".We entered at the top where the most recent tombs were built and passed through the Sunni cemetery -much non-restored original bricks and tiles and the Jewish cemetcry.Shahr-i-Zindah (1300-1400) means Tomb of the Living King, refers to its innermost and holiest shrine - a complex of rooms around what is probably the grave of Qusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, who is said to have brought Islam to this area. Most of the rest of the tombs belong to Timur's and Ulughbek's family and favorites. They feature some of the city's  finest majolica tilework, largely unrenovated. Gold and aubergene coloured tiles were permitted for high leading people only. Many tileswere arabesque with vegetation designs. Many structures under the tombs have not been excavated and there are secret passageways where people can disappear into underground catacombs. In honour of Timur's wife, the doors to paradise are open to all people.
Our guide, Valentina has had personal experiences of how people have lived and felt here. For 70 years the Soviets had other values and Stalin was blessed. Now, once again, Timur is blessed. Before, a lot of things were prohibited, eg: four boys were baptized illegally which resulted in severe prosecutions: The boys were expelled from school and their parents lost their jobs. In 1985 the linked policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) devolved into explosion and disintegration. Moscow suggested these episodes of violence were outbreaks of nationalism, ethnic tension or a resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism. Interestingly, "ethnic"rioting virtually ceased after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.

Now individuals are free to experience and worship without persecution

THE REGISTAN is the centerpiece of the city and is one of the most awesome sights in Central Asia. In medieval Samarkand was the medressas of majolica, azure mosaics and the plaza of wall to wall bazar. The Ulughbec Medressa on the west side was completed in 1420 under Ulughbec. The Sher Dor (lion) Medressa (opposite Ulughbek's) was finished in 1636 is decorated with roaring felines that look like tigers but are meant to be lions. In between is the Tilla-Kari (Gold Covered) Medressa completed in 1660 with a pleasant, garden-like mosque courtyard. Many inner rooms now serve as art and souvenir shops where we were able to make some souvenir purchases.

We had lunch in a private home

After lunch we visited the BIBI-KHANYM MOSQUE. Legend says that Bibbi-Khanym, Timur's Chinese wife ordered the mosque built as a surprise while he was away. The architect fell maddly in love with her and refused to finish the job unless he could give her a kiss. The smooch left a mark and Timur, on seeing it, executed the architect and decreed that women should henceforth wear veils so as not to tempt other men. Inside the courtyard there is an enormous Quran standing in the open courtyard. While we were there a family came and walked around the Quran; touching it and bringing their hands upwards to their face. It is said that any woman who crawls under the stand will have many children. For these people, family life is most important.

We then proceeded to Aiesha, an Oriental Costume Performance & Textile Workshop. Valentina Romanenko, designer. Outside we were shown where the materials and threads were dyed - sometimes using onion skins, madder, indigo, saffron, etc Valentina Romanenko's son is an artist who paints murals on very large pieces of lightweight silk. She uses pieces of suzannis, patchwork, ikat pieces and a lot of silk and mixes them with modem technology to create one-of-a-kind garments. The garments are poetic and very romantic. She presented us with a fashion show of garments inspired by stylized, traditional designs. University students were the models. After the show we had another shopping opportunity.

Dinner was in our Hotel the Afrosiyob Palace. Barbara sent me the following:

I would like to quote a passage I uncovered while in England, taken from "The Golden Road to Samarkand"by James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915), that seems significant for us:        

”For the lust of knowing what should be known,
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.”