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Timur, three of his sons and Ulugbek are buried in a
surprisingly modest mausoleum topped by a trademark fluted, azure dome,
behind the Hotel Samarkand on street Akhunbabaeva. Timur built it for one
of his grandsons, but was moved in when he died in 1405. His stone, which
is in the center of the richly decorated inner room, is a block of dark-green
jade; Ulugbek’s is the plain marble one to the left. Russian archaeologists
opened the vaults in 1941. They confirmed that Ulugbek was murdered,
and according to a story, they found on Timur’s crypt an inscription to
the effect that ‘whoever opens my grave will be defeated by an enemy more
fearsome than I’. The next day, 22 June, Hitler attacked the USSR. |
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