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| The most spectacular architectural ensemble in
Central Asia and the center of Samarkand
since the Mongol invasion. When you see the three great madrasas
for the first time, rising petrol blue through the petrol fumes,
it’s hard not to feel you have arrived somewhere significant. Registan
means ‘place of sand’ - it was strewn on the ground to
soak up the blood from the public executions that were held
here until early this century. This
is were Tamerlane stuck his victims’ heads on spikes, and were
people gathered to hear royal
proclamations, heralded by blasts on enormous copper
pipes called dzharchis.
This ensemble of majestic madrassas, Samarkand’s centerpiece is almost an overload of azure mosaics and vast, perfectly proportioned spaces. It was medieval Samarkand’s commercial center and the plaza was probably a wall to wall market. Heavy Soviet-era restoration has included digging down 3 meters to its original level to expose the buildings’ full height. |
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E-mail: marakand@online.ru
