Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarkand. Bibi Khanum Mosque (Bibi Khanum) Inscriptions on the portal of the Bibi Khanum Mosque

Panorama

The Bibi-Khanum Cathedral Mosque is perhaps the most grandiose building of medieval Samarkand, however, what appears today to the eyes of residents and guests of the city is the result of the enormous work of skilled restorers. The fact is that practically back in the 80s of the last century this architectural ensemble lay in ruins... Large-scale restoration began in the late eighties and early nineties; in about 15 years of intensive work, almost 80% of what needed restoration was restored . Restoration of the monument continues to this day.

But everything is in order...

Legend

Bibi-Khanum was Temur's most beloved wife and the most beautiful woman in his harem. When Temur left on one of his campaigns, she decided to give him a gift, and, at the same time, to perpetuate her name - to build a grandiose mosque, which in its size, splendor and decoration would surpass all existing buildings. So that the craftsmen and workers would not doubt that she had the means, the queen ordered to show them piles of gold and jewelry intended for construction. Work was in full swing. Bibi-Khanum appointed a young architect to supervise the work, and he, enchanted by the queen’s beauty, fell in love with her.

And now the mosque is almost built, only one huge portal arch remains. Bibi-Khanum visits buildings more and more often and urges the architect. But he is in no hurry: he knows that he will not see her again as soon as he completes the order.

Meanwhile, Temur sends news of his imminent return. Bibi-Khanum is looking forward to the completion of construction. But the daring architect sets a condition: the mosque will be finished if the queen allows herself to be kissed. The queen is angry: the architect has forgotten who she is! But the architect is relentless. Then Bibi-Khanum decides to use a trick; she orders eggs painted in different colors to be brought. “Look at these eggs, they are all different in appearance, but inside they are all the same. That’s how we are, women! I will give you any of my slaves that you want.” To this, the architect ordered two glasses to be brought: he filled one of them with ordinary water, the other with white wine. “Look at these two glasses, they look the same. But if I drink one, I won’t feel anything, if I drink the other, it will burn me. That’s love!”

And Temur is already approaching the capital. Bibi-Khanum is beside herself with frustration: the surprise she has cherished for so long and almost prepared for her husband may not work out. The queen does not dare allow this. She agrees to the kiss, but covers her face with her palm during the kiss. The kiss was so hot that it left a stain on the beauty's cheek.

And so Temur entered the capital, his admiring gaze saw the cathedral mosque in all its splendor - a gift from his beloved wife. Imagine Bibi-Khanum’s embarrassment when her perceptive husband noticed a spot on her cheek.

Here the story splits into two versions...

Version one

Death awaited the architect. Realizing this, he, together with his student, climbed one of the minarets of the newly built mosque. The warriors rushed there, but when they got up, they met only a student. “Where is the teacher?” they asked him. “The teacher made wings for himself and flew to Mashhad,” he answered...

Version two

The great conqueror was angry, but did not show his anger. He just summoned the master and ordered him to build a rich mausoleum underground, so that such a rich tomb would not exist in the whole world. Then the ruler ordered the great master to make a sarcophagus from a block of pink marble, and a gravestone from black jade, and to carve on the stone in Arabic writing a recipe for making glaze for domes. When everything was ready, Temur killed the master and buried him in a dungeon. He also ordered his treasures and the famous library, which he brought after a military campaign in Asia Minor, to be demolished in the dungeon. Then the entrance was walled up. Years passed. The grandson of the great lame man took possession of the dungeon plan. Ulugbek continued to replenish the library - so gradually the dungeon turned into one of the largest book depositories in the world. But Ulugbek died, and the dungeon plan disappeared...

Such is the legend.

But what was the situation in reality? Lovers of romance will be disappointed here. There are no reliable references to Tamerlane's wife with the name Bibi-Khanum. His eldest wife, a domineering elderly woman (about 60 years old) Sarai Mulk Khanum, after whom the mosque could be named, did not in any way resemble the beautiful heroine from a beautiful fairy tale. Moreover, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, chamberlain of the King of Castile and Leon Henry III, who headed the embassy to the court of Temur, wrote in his Diary that the mosque was built by order of Temur himself in honor of the mother of his eldest wife Sarai Mulk Khanum, whom Clavijo called Caño. This is quite likely, because “Bibi” just means “mother”.

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo: “The mosque that the lord ordered to be built in honor of the mother of his wife Caño was the most revered in the city. When it was finished, the lord was dissatisfied with the front wall, which was [too] low, and ordered it to be broken down. In front of it They dug two holes in order to dismantle the foundation through them, and to ensure that the work progressed, the lord said that he himself would undertake to supervise one part [of the work], and ordered two of his associates to observe the other half in order to know who would finish their task most quickly. The lord [at this time] was already decrepit, could neither walk nor ride, but [moved] only in a stretcher. And he ordered that he be brought there on a stretcher every day and remained there for some time, hurrying the workers. boiled meat there and throw it from above to those who worked in the pit, as if they were dogs. And when he threw [this meat] with his own hands, he encouraged [to work] that one cannot help but be surprised. Sometimes the lord ordered to throw it into the pits. money. And they worked on this construction day and night. This construction and the [construction of] the street were suspended [only] because it started snowing.”

Traditions say that Sarai Mulk Khanum supervised the construction of another building - opposite the mosque, which is called the Bibi Khanum mausoleum

The construction of the Bibi-Khanum mosque began in 1399 after the completion of Temur’s victorious campaign in India. The concept of the project was unprecedented for that time: the construction of the largest cathedral mosque in Central Asia and one of the largest in the entire Muslim world - the Bibi Khanum Mosque was supposed to eclipse everything Tamerlane had seen in other lands.

Architects, artists, craftsmen and artisans from many countries of the East were involved in the construction. Two hundred stonemasons from Azerbaijan, Fars, Hindustan and other countries worked in the mosque itself, and five hundred workers in the mountains near Penjikent worked to extract and cut the stone and send it to Samarkand. Masters and artisans, gathered and gathered from all over the world, brought their creative experience and traditions to the construction.

Legend: Bricks for construction were delivered from near Bukhara. He was passed in a human chain from hand to hand over a distance of 200 km. The master who was responsible for the masonry did not vouch for the material that was given to him and guaranteed the quality of the construction only from Bukhara. When bricks began to be transported from near Bukhara to Samarkand, there were frequent interruptions in delivery, and then it was decided to carry out delivery by a human chain.

In its original form, the mosque was a gigantic structure. Consisting of many buildings, it spread over an area of more than 18,000 m2 (167x109 m). Oriented to the east, the tall, slender portal of the main entrance had a height of 36 meters (this is approximately the height of a 10-story building) and a width of 46 meters, inside there was a spacious courtyard with an area of 4.104 m2 (54x76 m), in the depths of the courtyard on its western side there was a monumental main mosque, standing on the central axis of the complex. The mosque was surrounded on all sides by walls; in the corners there were four tall multi-tiered round minarets. The two outer minarets on the western side of the complex were 32 meters high, the outer minarets at the main entrance were more than 70 meters high, and the minarets adjacent to the main entrance portal were almost 90 meters high. The hexagonal minarets on the sides of the entrance portal of the main mosque rose above medieval Samarkand to a height of more than 80 meters. The height of the main hall of the mosque was 41 m, the span of the entrance portal to the main mosque was 18 m. A gallery of 480 marble columns and supports ran along the perimeter of the courtyard. The buildings were erected from bricks measuring 27x27x5 cm, stacked on ganch. The entrance to the mosque was decorated with double-leaf gates, carved marble slabs and rich cladding. In the center of the courtyard there was a deep well, covered with a marble slab with a hole for water drainage (tashnau). One of Temur’s historians wrote about the tall and slender minarets: “The minaret raised its head towards the sky and proclaimed: “Truly our deeds point to us.” They already wrote about the dome of the mosque at that time: “Its dome would be the only one if the Milky Way were not its mate.”

Portal and arch of the main entrance

The question quite naturally arises: aren’t the heights of the minarets, portals and domes exaggerated? Today it is possible to build super-high-rise structures without fear of their destruction, but in those days? But even if museum and historical sources exaggerate the heights of the buildings of the Bibi-Khanum complex, it was an impressive monumental structure, far ahead of its time in design.

After construction was completed in 1404, the mosque attracted the attention of many poets with its grandeur. In its beauty and radiance, Bibi-Khanum was compared, as already mentioned, with the Milky Way. However, Temur was dissatisfied with the construction and in anger ordered the arrest of the nobles - Khoja Mahmud David and Muhammad Diseld, who headed the construction (judging by the names, these were immigrants from Western Europe, and perhaps converted to Islam, but this is only an assumption). They were hanged behind the Siab canal, at the foot of Chupan-Ata.

General view of the mosque on Mount Chapan-Ata. Photographer S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky. Date of shooting 1905-1915.

Soon after construction was completed, as soon as the mosque became a place of worship, it began to collapse. Bibi-Khanum was built on a large scale, but without taking into account such an increase in the size of the seismicity of the region, in addition, medieval builders did not have the scientific knowledge, technologies and materials that would allow the construction of such grandiose high-rise structures. Despite the deep foundations of torn stone, the huge masses of brickwork in the walls, the thickness of which reached five meters, already during Temur’s lifetime stones began to fall on the worshipers from the cracked dome. The architect's idea was very daring - he decided to implement a technically complex architectural idea for that time. But perhaps there was a deeper meaning to this destruction.

From history we know that many rulers built temples in an attempt to please God. It is likely that the Bibi Khanum Mosque was a thank you offering to God from the emperor for the successful campaign in India. But it is also very likely that this structure was a sacrifice to atone for sins. The Indian campaign is known as one of the most brutal - Tamerlane left traces of carnage all along his way to Delhi, and he razed the city itself, killing up to 100,000 of its inhabitants. How everything really happened will forever remain a mystery to us. At the very least, it seems very likely that God did not accept this sacrifice. Until the end of the twentieth century, the ruins of the Bibi Khanum mosque were a very good illustration of the words of the prophet, who said: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Time has not been kind to Bibi-Khanum, turning the once majestic architectural complex into pitiful ruins, but the enormous work of historians, archaeologists, and art historians gives us the opportunity to imagine the original appearance of the mosque. One of the characteristic features of architectural ensembles of that period is the enormous size and proportionality of the compositional parts of the ensemble, of which Bibi-Khanum is an excellent example. It is noteworthy that the dome of the mosque, which could be seen for many kilometers when approaching Samarkand, was not visible from the main entrance, since the height of the dome was equal to the height of the portal.

The outer walls and three corner minarets were not preserved (meaning, by the time of radical restoration at the end of the twentieth century), only on the northwestern side stood a lonely minaret 20 meters high, badly damaged during the earthquake of 1897, its upper part threatened to fall was dismantled that same year. At the same time, during an earthquake, a significant part of the marble-clad portal of the main entrance was destroyed. As a result, only ruins remained of the monumental and integral structure in its composition.

Bibi Khanum Mosque. Photo from the beginning of the 20th century.

The building of the large mosque was made using the majolica technique in combination with unglazed bricks and carved mosaics, decorated with the finest floral, geometric and epigraphic ornaments. The interior of the mosque was decorated with ornamental paintings on plaster on the walls and gilded papier-mâché on the inside of the dome. The external decoration of small mosques was inferior to the decor of the large mosque - this is an architectural technique, the meaning of which is the desire to emphasize the dominant significance of the main building. The decorative design of the building concentrated all the best that had been achieved by the craftsmen by the beginning of the 15th century: majolica and carved mosaics, carved marble, carved wood, painting on plaster and papier-mâché decoration. This was a new stage in the development of traditional mosques of the Middle Ages. The innovation of architects is also reflected in the desire for extreme harmony of forms. Many things are striking - double domes elevated on drums, needles of minarets (the original minarets were multi-tiered), high portals, towers, elegant marble columns of galleries with a vaulted ceiling. There is an introduction of the vertical as the most important element of architecture.

The once magnificently decorated courtyard was paved with marble slabs and ceramic mosaics. Temur's grandson Ulugbek installed a huge marble music stand inside the main building, intended for the Koran and moved in 1875 to the middle of the courtyard.

Lyaukh - stand for the Koran

To the east of the mosque, across the road, in Guzarsky Lane, there is an original monument - the octagonal pillar-shaped mausoleum of Bibi-Khanum with a crypt. This building does not have a main facade; it was apparently attached to Bibi-Khanum, and as already mentioned, the construction of this mausoleum was supervised by Temur’s eldest wife Sarai Mulk Khanum.

Mausoleum of Bibi-Khanum

The decoration of the mausoleum indicates the simultaneity of its construction with the mosque. In the spacious crypt, marble sarcophagi are installed on the floor. When they were opened in 1941, the remains of two other middle-aged women in rich clothes were discovered. It is possible that one of them was Sarai Mulk Khanum.

In the first years of Soviet power, the question of complete restoration of the Bibi-Khanum Mosque was raised. However, at first the work only affected the improvement of the monument: benches were demolished and the area around the mosque was cleared. The technical restoration of this monument required, in addition to large material costs, a preliminary and in-depth study of it. In the 20-30s of the 20th century, works appeared that more fully covered the history of the monument; measurements of the parts remaining on the surface were made, the area of the courtyard was examined, and extensive work was carried out to record the paintings of the mosque. Subsequently, as a result of a detailed archaeological and architectural study of the building, a project was drawn up for the graphic restoration of the mosque, created in due time by the best craftsmen of that time.

In 1968, extensive work began on the conservation and preservation of the entire complex of Bibi-Khanum buildings, but the process dragged on for almost three decades, and only by the beginning of the 2003 tourist season, restorers presented the almost completely restored structure to the residents and guests of Samarkand. In recent years, restoration work has been carried out under the leadership of chief engineer Khodikhon Akobirov.

So what was done...

The arch of the main portal was rebuilt; it was destroyed approximately half of its height, i.e. only a half-vault was preserved (see retro photo).

The lower marble frame is all original, the old cladding is immediately visible - it is darker. Three corner minarets were re-erected and faced, with the exception of the fourth, partially preserved one - the northwestern one, its facing is also completely new. During the reconstruction, the height of the minarets was made less than the original ones: the westernmost and easternmost minarets are 20 meters high, the height of the minarets adjacent to the main entrance portal is 37 meters, the hexagonal minarets on the sides of the entrance portal of the main mosque are 47 meters. The dome of the mosque and its upper part (the base of the dome) were rebuilt, and the domes of the side mosques were also completely restored. The walls on the side of the mosques were practically not preserved; they had to be erected and re-clad. On the main mosque, approximately 90% of the cladding had to be restored; the original cladding is darker; in the photograph you can immediately distinguish it from the modern one. In addition, along the perimeter of the mosque, the cultural layer that had formed over 600 years was removed. Currently, restoration and restoration work continues, the upper part of the arch of the main portal and part of the walls of the main mosque have not yet been lined, and restoration work continues inside the mosque and in its premises.

Bibi-Khanim. Detail of the northeast side. Photographer S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky. Date of shooting 1905-1915.

Main mosque. The original ornament is darker, the rest is modern reconstruction

Bibi Khanum Cathedral Mosque

One can argue and talk a lot about the quality of restoration work, but the fact remains that now Samarkand does not greet its guests entering the city from Tashkent with ruins - the Bibi Khanum Cathedral Mosque is an immortal masterpiece of architecture of the Muslim East.

Most of the ancient buildings in Samarkand are grand in size. But Bibi Khanum is a macrocosm. Standing in the center of this empty, silent giant complex, I experienced mystical horror and shock from the beauty and size of the walls rising around me.
In the photograph, in the distance near the huge door, a black speck is our driver, a man of no small stature.

“The Bibi Khanum Mosque is the largest in Central Asia and one of the largest in the entire Muslim world. ... If we turn to Western Europe, then, almost coinciding in construction time, the Gothic Cathedral of Milan, the largest among other cathedrals, turns out to be almost equal in plan to the Bibi Khanum Mosque.”

“In its original form, the mosque was a gigantic structure consisting of many buildings. It was surrounded on all sides by walls, and there were four tall round minarets in the corners. The outer walls and three corner minarets have not survived; only on the northwestern side does a dilapidated minaret rise alone; its upper part, which threatened to fall, was dismantled in 1897. All the buildings were once united into a single compositional whole by a covered gallery with several rows of stone columns.”

There are 114 cells in the building - according to the number of suras of the Koran, in which students studying theology lived.

“On the eastern side of the vast courtyard, which had the shape of a rectangle (62x83 meters), there is the main entrance portal (peshtak), 33.15 meters high. Opposite it is the large building of the main mosque; its total height from the ground to its highest extant point is 36.65 meters. On the northern and southern sides, domed buildings of small mosques are placed one against the other.”

- This is the Bibi-Khanym Mausoleum, which served as a tomb for women from the Timurid dynasty. In 1941, the grave in the mausoleum was opened. “In a stone sarcophagus, the skeleton of a young woman who died early was discovered, preserving traces of skin and hair on the skull, layers of skin in the abdomen and fossilized cover in the lower part of both legs. The famous anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov restored the portrait of this woman.”

“The once magnificently decorated courtyard was paved with marble slabs and ceramic mosaics. Ulugbek installed a huge marble music stand inside the main building, intended for the Koran and moved in 1875 to the middle of the courtyard.”

We wondered where the Koran itself was of such gigantic size, and decided that it was in the Timurid Museum in Tashkent - there was a Book of the appropriate size.

However, the history of the Koran turned out to be not so simple, so I will give an excerpt from the article “Kaffal Ash-Shashi and the Koran of Caliph Osman” by Andrei Kudryashov. Source advantour.com

I briefly retold this story to my fellow travelers in Samarkand:

“... Folk legends also connect Kaffal al-Shashi (the first of the patron saints of Tashkent) with the acquisition by the Muslims of Movarounnahr of a priceless relic - the Koran of Caliph Osman, today stored in an armored safe of the Muftiate library.

In the Islamic tradition, it is generally accepted that the original and uncreated Quran was revealed to Muhammad by Allah himself through the archangel Jebrail, who on the 27th day of the holy month of Ramadan transferred it to the lower heaven closest to the earth, from where the archangel transmitted its revelations to the Prophet for many years. During the life of Muhammad, there was no urgent need for the written text of the Koran, since it was always possible to obtain oral explanations from the Prophet on any issue. But already during the time of the righteous caliphs, the first disagreements and misconceptions began to arise in the Muslim community. At the same time, due to zeal in jihad - the war for the spread of faith, the number of people who personally heard and remembered the sermons of the founder of Islam rapidly decreased.

In 650, the third Caliph Osman instructed the adopted son and former personal secretary of Muhammad, the scribe Zeid ibn Thabit, to collect all the records of the Prophet's sermons and compile them into a single Book. In parallel with this work, four more of his assistants were busy collecting notes and interviewing people, compiling four more versions of the text. The texts were then compiled through careful comparison into one, which was canonized. Only a few copies were made from it, and all other versions and drafts were burned.

The compilation of the text of the Koran was completed more than on time. In 656, crowds of rebels who gathered in Medina under the guise of pilgrims broke into the caliph's palace and hacked him to death with swords. According to legend, at the time of his death, Osman continued to read one of the canonical copies of the Koran, the pages of which were stained with his blood.

From that moment on, the Koran of Osman became a sacred relic, which was always at the court of the following caliphs, first in Medina, then in Damascus and Baghdad. The various religious movements and sects that subsequently emerged within the caliphate, at best, could deny certain passages of the holy book, claiming that they were distorted by the scribes by mistake or even by the malicious intent of the caliph, who, for example, is still not revered by the Shiites - supporters of the hereditary power of the clan Ali. But they could no longer contrast other sacred texts with Osman’s Koran.

Historians do not know the exact fate of all the manuscripts after the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu captured Baghdad in 1258 and executed Caliph al-Musta'sim and many of his associates. But in the 15th century, the Koran with dried blood stains appeared in Samarkand. At first it was kept at the court of Amir Temur’s grandson, Mirzo Ulugbek, for which he ordered the making of a giant marble stand in the courtyard of the Bibi Khanum mausoleum, then it ended up in the mosque of Sheikh Khoja Akhror, a native of Tashkent.

When in 1868 Samarkand was occupied by the troops of the Russian Empire and included in the Turkestan General Government, the head of the Zeravshan district, Major General Abramov, having learned about the existence of a unique manuscript, removed it from the mosque, paying the inconsolable caretakers 100 gold rubles as compensation. The Koran was then transported by Abramov to Tashkent to Governor-General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman, who a year later donated it to the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg.

Despite all the doubts about the authenticity of Osman's Koran, Russian scientists who studied this book came to the conclusion that it could actually have been created in the 7th or 8th century on the territory of modern Iraq.

In December 1917, the Regional Muslim Congress of the Petrograd National District appealed to the People's Commissariat for National Affairs with a request to return the sacred relic to Muslims, receiving five days later a resolution from the People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky: “Release immediately,” after which Osman's Koran was transferred to the All-Russian Muslim Council, which was then in Ufa. From there it was transferred to Tashkent in 1924, then returned to Samarkand, to the Khoja Akhror mosque. In 1941, the relic was transported for storage to the Museum of the History of the Peoples of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. In the early 90s, after Uzbekistan gained state sovereignty, the relic was presented to the mufti by Islam Karimov in front of a huge crowd of people on Khast Imam Square.
It still remains a mystery how Osman’s Koran came to Movarounnahr. According to the most common version, the relic was found during the capture in 1393 by the troops of Amir Temur, who was collecting a library of valuable manuscripts in his capital Samarkand. Within the Naqshbandiya Sufi order, whose head in the 15th century was Sheikh Khoja Akhror, there is a legend that it was obtained by brave and cunning dervishes in troubled times after the Mongol invasions. But among the residents of Tashkent, who consider Kaffal Shashi the first patron of the city, a much more popular folk legend is that the saint simply brought the Koran from Baghdad, receiving it as a gift from the caliph himself for some service. Strictly speaking, this version, unless we are talking about one of the copies of the unique Koran, looks unlikely. On the other hand, it reflects the love and respect that Abu Bakr Ismail Kaffal al-Shashi enjoyed in Tashkent at all times.”

serafimovna beautiful post about this Quran >>

But let's return to the secrets of Bibi-Khanum.
Legends about Bibi-Khanum that are told to tourists:

“Bibi-Khanym was Timur’s most beloved wife and the most beautiful woman in his harem. When Timur left on one of his campaigns, it occurred to her to give him a gift and, at the same time, to perpetuate her name - to build a grandiose mosque that would surpass all existing buildings in its size, splendor and decoration. So that the craftsmen and workers would not doubt that she had the means, the queen ordered to show them piles of gold and jewelry intended for construction.
Work was in full swing. She put a young architect in charge of the work, and he, enchanted by the queen’s beauty, fell in love with her. And now the mosque is almost built, only one huge portal arch remains. Bibi-Khanym visits buildings more and more often and hurries the architect. But he is in no hurry: he knows that he will not see her again as soon as he fulfills the order. Meanwhile, Timur sends news of his imminent return. Bibi-Khanim is looking forward to the completion of construction. But the daring architect sets a condition: the mosque will be finished if the queen allows herself to be kissed.
The queen is angry; Has the architect forgotten who she is? But the architect is inexorable... Then Bibi-Khanim decides to use a trick: she orders eggs painted in different colors to be brought. “Look at these eggs; They are all different on the outside, but on the inside they are all the same. This is how we are women! I will give you any of the slaves you want.” To this, the architect ordered two glasses to be brought: he filled one of them with ordinary water; the other with white wine. “Look at these two glasses, they look the same. But if I drink one, I won’t feel anything; if I drink another, it will burn me. This is love!”
And Timur is already approaching the capital. Bibi-Khanim is beside herself with frustration: the surprise she has cherished for so long and almost prepared for her husband may not work out. The queen does not dare allow this. She agrees to the kiss. But when kissing, he covers his face with a pillow (according to another legend - with his palm); the kiss was so hot that it left a stain on the beauty’s cheek. And so Timur entered the capital, and his admiring gaze saw the cathedral mosque in all its splendor - a gift from his beloved wife. Imagine Bibi-Khanim’s embarrassment when her perceptive husband noticed a spot on her cheek...
Here the narrative splits into two versions:
Version one:
Death awaited the architect. Realizing this, he climbed one of the minarets of the newly built mosque together with his student. The warriors rushed there, but when they got up, they met only a student. “Where is the teacher?” they asked him. “The teacher made wings for himself and flew to Mashhad,” he answered...
Version two:
The great conqueror was angry, but did not show his anger. He just summoned the master and ordered him to build a rich mausoleum underground, so that such a rich tomb would not exist in the whole world. Then the ruler ordered the great master to make a sarcophagus from a block of pink marble, and a gravestone from black jade, and to carve on the stone in Arabic writing a recipe for making glaze for domes. When everything was ready, Timur killed the master and buried him in a dungeon. He also ordered his treasures and the famous library, which he brought after a military campaign in Asia Minor, to be demolished in the dungeon. Then the entrance was walled up. Years passed. The grandson of the great lame man took possession of the dungeon plan. He replenished the library - so gradually the dungeon turned into one of the largest book depositories in the world. But Ulugbek died and the dungeon plan disappeared..."(material used from the collection “Legends of Samarkand” by N. Yakubov. Samarkand - 1990)

However!

“History, however, does not know the name Bibi Khanum, and destroys all the charm of the fairy tale. Timur's main wife's name was Sarai Mulk-Khanym. And by the time the mosque was built, she was well over 60 years old. In fact, the mosque was built under Timur in 1399-1404 and was founded by Timur after a victorious campaign against the capital of India - Delhi.” This was Timur's penultimate campaign. From the latter (to China) he was brought dead - he died on the road. And the Chinese emperor sent envoys to meet him, who were supposed to inform the conqueror that China was ready to surrender without a fight, and wanted to listen to the conditions.

There is another version.
Traveler Rui Clavijo wrote in his Diary that the mosque was built on the orders of Timur himself in honor of the mother of Timur’s eldest wife (Sarai Mulk Khanim, whom Klasihzo called Kanyo), which is quite likely, given that “Bibi” means mother -

“The mosque that the lord ordered to be built in honor of the mother of his wife Caño was the most revered in the city. When it was finished, the lord was dissatisfied with the front wall, which was [too] low, and ordered it to be broken down. They dug two holes in front of her in order to dismantle the foundation through them, and in order for the work to proceed smoothly, the lord said that he himself would undertake to monitor one part [of the work], and ordered his two entourage to observe the other half, in order to know who would complete their task most quickly . And the lord [at that time] was already decrepit, could neither walk nor ride a horse, and [moved] only in a stretcher. And he ordered that he be brought there on a stretcher every day and remained there for some time, hurrying the workers. Then he ordered boiled meat to be delivered there and thrown from above to those who worked in the pit, as if they were dogs. And when he threw [this meat] with his own hands, he encouraged [to work] so much that one cannot help but be surprised. Sometimes the lord ordered money to be thrown into the pits. And they worked on this construction day and night. This construction and the [construction of] the street were suspended [only] because it snowed.”

Be that as it may, with such a variety of legends and versions, the magnificent Bibi-Khanum becomes more and more interesting and mysterious.

“The huge mosque building, which was built hastily, turned out to be short-lived and began to fall apart in the first years of its existence. In the 17th century, the condition of the mosque was so threatening that the ruler of Samarkand, Yalangtush-biy, decided to build a new cathedral mosque on Registan Square. Earthquakes accelerated the process of deformation and destruction of the domes and increased the threatening cracks in the arches. The earthquake of 1897 destroyed a significant part of the marble-clad portal of the main entrance. As a result, only ruins remained of the monumental structure, integral in its composition.”

80s. Central arch of Bibi Khanum

“In the first years of Soviet power, the question of complete restoration of the mosque was raised. However, the work at first concerned only the improvement of the monument: benches were demolished and the area around the mosque was cleared. The technical restoration of this monument required, in addition to large material costs, a preliminary and in-depth study of it. In the 20-30s, works appeared that more fully covered the history of the monument; measurements were taken of the parts remaining on the surface; the yard area was surveyed; Extensive work was completed to fix the paintings of the mosque. Subsequently, as a result of a detailed archaeological and architectural study of the building, a project for the graphic restoration of the mosque, created at one time by the best craftsmen of that time, was drawn up.”

Opposite the Bibi-Khanum complex there is another large tomb of women from the ruling Samarkand families of the royal family. But after Bibi-Khanum we didn’t have any emotional strength to go there. Catharsis and devastation. This was noticeable even to the youngest. She was thoughtful and silent. Amazing place.

And also, locals say that if a woman cannot get pregnant, then she must definitely come to Bibi Khanum, touch the stones of the mosque and the place where the large Koran lay (one of the first five). Pray in any language. And ask for the happiness of motherhood. You can ask the caretakers to “read” on you. And everything will come true, for the place has been prayed for for many centuries.
When we, enchanted, wandered alone through the magical Bibi-Khanum, I noticed near the side mosque, on the young grass, a middle-aged man kneeling and praying. Who was he praying for? For your wife? For your daughter? His prayer must be heard and he will hold in his arms the baby for whom he prayed in this holy place.
Seeing how in the distance the youngest was stuck to the stand under the giant Koran and caressed herself around the warm light stone like a kitten, I thought that I should definitely ask for children. We called the doll away and quietly went out through the giant arch... Further, to Samarkand...

Timur began building the Bibi Khanum Mosque in 1399 after his victorious campaign in India. The Cathedral Mosque of Samarkand was to become the largest and most brilliant building of those times, worthy of displaying the greatness of his empire.

By the end of the 14th century, Timur's empire reached its peak. Its borders extended from Turkey to India, and the population of Samarkand reached 1 million people. At this time, the population of the largest European capitals barely exceeded 100 thousand.

From all the conquered states, he sent educated people and craftsmen to Samarkand. They all worked to make the capital of the empire even more brilliant. And one of the reflections of the work of masters from all parts of the world was the Cathedral Mosque of Samarkand Bibi Khanum.

The Bibi Khanum Mosque is named after Timur's eldest wife Saray-Mulk-Khanum. As is known, Timur could only observe the beginning of the construction of the Bibi Khanum Mosque in 1399. Then he went on a military campaign to Turkey for several years and returned only in 1404.

The legend connects the construction with Timur's wife, but in fact the construction was supervised by two nobles. By the time Timur returned, the Bibi Khanum Mosque was largely completed. It was and remains the largest mosque in Central Asia and one of the largest in the world. More than 10 thousand people could be accommodated in its courtyard for Friday prayers, but, however, Timur did not like many of the architectural solutions of the Bibi Khanum mosque. He executed the nobles who were overseeing the construction and ordered the entrance portal to be remodeled.

The size of the courtyard of the Bibi Khanum Mosque is 100 x 140 meters. Galleries were built on each side. Four powerful minarets are decorated with powerful domes. The main dome over the mosque has a diameter of 40 meters. In the center of the courtyard of the Bibi Khanum Mosque there is a special stone stand on which you can place an open Koran of gigantic size.

We are talking about the Koran of Osman (the Righteous Caliph). This is the oldest handwritten Koran that has survived to this day and is supposedly stained with the blood of the third righteous caliph Osman. Since then it has been called the Koran of Osman. Research shows that this Koran was written in the 7th-8th century, and in Uzbekistan it appeared in the 15th century during the reign of Timur's grandson Mirzo Ulugbek. Now the Koran of Osman is kept in the Tilla Shaikh mosque in Tashkent.

Opposite the entrance portal of the Bibi Khanum Mosque there is a mausoleum where the wives of the Timurid rulers were buried. Within walking distance from the Bibi Khanum Mosque are

Samarkand was the last city we visited during our Uzbek tour four years ago. And, despite the apparent similarity with Khiva and Bukhara, it is very different from them. It has the most magnificent monuments, it has the most grandiose history, and, finally, it is the third largest city in the country with all the ensuing consequences. Accordingly, we need to prepare for imperial scale, crowds, modernity and bustle.

The city was also interesting to me because in family albums there were many photographs of my parents visiting it during their geological student youth. Some of these slides will also be included in today's story.

Moving from Bukhara to Samarkand was very difficult for me. The fact is that on the fifth day of my stay in Uzbekistan, my body was so tired of fatty Central Asian food that it completely rebelled, and on the morning of the trip I felt as if the world around me was stratified, the sky turned yellow, and the people around me turned into humanoids. creatures who want something from me. At every stop along the way, I quietly crawled out of the car, sat on the sidewalk in the shade of the car, and the driver, looking at me like that, systematically offered me a beer. I successfully missed the first points of the program - the country palace of the Bukhara emirs and the ceramics school in the town of Gijuvan. I only remember the peacocks in the park and the pool, into which I really wanted to fall with my entire exhausted body. So there are no photos from there.

Next we decided to stop by to see ancient petroglyphs in the Sarmysh gorge of the Zarafshan mountain range. This gorge is called one of the largest rock galleries in the world - in an area of only 2 kilometers long there are several THOUSANDS of similar drawings, which are more than 10 thousand years old. I have quite a lot of photographs from there, so there will probably be a separate story about the gorge, but for now it’s just a synthesis of what can be seen there. Pay attention to the humanoids and astronauts in the bottom row - their presence in the drawings is one of the biggest mysteries of archeology and science.

Further along the way there will be the city of Nurata, above which rises a huge hill, where there once stood a fortress conquered by Alexander the Great. Almost nothing remains of the fortress now; donkeys graze in its place, and excellent views still open from the hill.

There is also a sacred place in Nurata associated with Saint Davud - the Uzbek “Prometheus”, who gave people fire and blacksmithing. Near the mosque in the rocks there is a small lake in which trout live. The lake does not connect to anything and does not flow out anywhere, so the philistine worldview accepts the presence of so many trout in it as a miracle. If you throw a bunch of grass to a trout, the school will tear it up, like the piranhas of a conquistador who accidentally fell into the Amazon.

And the remains of the Soviet heritage are a monument to geologists.

Well, and a few photographs of the same mountains from the late 1970s from a family photo album.

After such a long introduction, we finally arrived in Samarkand. Naturally, first thing in the morning we go to Registan - one of the most famous squares in the world. And it's definitely worth it.

“Registan” is translated as “sandy place”, and Ulugbek, one of the greatest Uzbeks of all times, an astronomer and heir to the Timurid dynasty, began to build it. The left madrasah, built in the 15th century, bears his name, and at one time was the center of education not only in Central Asia, but throughout the East.

And this is what the madrasah looked like at the beginning of the 20th century (photo by the famous Prokudin-Gorsky, one of the pioneers of color photography).

Interior decoration.

The right madrasah is Sher-Dor, or “tiger over the gate”. It was built as a mirror copy of Ulugbek's madrasah in the 17th century on the site of Ulugbek's khanaka, which by that time had fallen into disrepair (“khanaka” is something like a “private mosque”, or, in Orthodoxy, a monastery). It got its name thanks to the two tigers depicted above the entrance. In general, this is a completely unique thing, because Islamic tradition prohibits the use of any images of people or animals in religious painting. A tiger with the sun on its back is the coat of arms of Samarkand. And in the center of the arch, if you look closely, there is a swastika.

Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin, the first Russian blogger. Late 19th century:

Sher-Dor performed by Prokudin-Gorsky. Pay attention to the stork's nests on the minaret - a typical sign of Central Asia, which was mentioned in the story about Bukhara.

Finally, the central madrasah - Tillya-Kari, was built a few years after Sher-Dor on the site of an old caravanserai. For many years it also served as a cathedral mosque.

You can climb one of the minarets if you pay the cops 10 dollars (which is even written about in the Lonely Planet guide). However, the locals dissuaded us - according to them, it was very dirty, slippery, and you couldn’t really see anything from there. And I was also struck by the geometry of this minaret:

By the way, this is a normal situation. Here is one of the madrassas in profile. Almost the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Almost every evening a light and music show is performed on the square for tourists. You can buy a ticket and sit on a bench, or you can just stand to the side and watch and listen - you can see and hear everything perfectly.

Next we go to Gur-Emir, the tomb of the great Tamerlane. Locals call him Amir Temur, and he is the main national hero. There is a monument to him in every city, everything possible is named after him, and his face adorns local money.

By the way, Gur-Emir became the prototype of the famous Taj Mahal in Northern India, which was ruled by the heirs of Tamerlane for a long time.

In addition to Tamerlane, the mausoleum contains his two sons, two grandsons (including Ulugbek) and his spiritual mentor. The tombstone made of green stone was brought from China, where previously it was the throne of one of the heirs of Genghis Khan.

But the most interesting thing begins next - the caretaker secretly tells that these are not real graves and tombstones, and offers to show the real ones for a certain amount. We agree, and he leads us to the ground floor, where there are the same tombstones, exactly under the ones we just saw. They are already, indeed, real.

Tamerlane's tombstone is split - according to legend, after his death, his body with a tombstone was taken to Shakhrisabz, his hometown. But bad weather happened at the pass, which did not allow us to go further, and in addition, the tombstone fell and split. This was interpreted as a sign, and Tamerlane was returned back to Samarkand. According to another legend, the tombstone was stolen in the 18th century by one of the Persian nobles, after which it cracked, and a streak of bad luck began to haunt him, after which he returned it to its place in the same way.

It is written on the tombstone that anyone who dares to disturb his peace will be subjected to suffering and die. Of course, everyone knows the story that the tomb was opened on June 22, 1941, after which the Great Patriotic War began. And as soon as Academician Gerasimov completed the cast of Tamerlane’s face from his skull and he was taken back, the situation on the fronts turned in the opposite direction and a counteroffensive began near Moscow.

Nearby is the Bibi Khanum Mosque and her mausoleum. Bibi Khanum was Tamerlane’s beloved wife, and he “gave” this mosque to her in honor of his campaign of conquest in India. If you walk around her grave three times in the Bibi Khanum mausoleum, making a wish, it will definitely come true. For me, 50% came true in a month, and the remaining 50% over the course of another couple of years.

The current state of the mosque is already a remake, because... it was heavily damaged by an earthquake in the 19th century. Here is a photo of Prokudin-Gorsky, 1906.

And here are photographs from a family photo album, 1975.

A lot has changed since then.

And another modern “Pisan” view - from the side.

Here are five photographs taken during a couple of minutes of sitting on the sidewalk near Bibi Khanum. On the right side of the frame is the entrance to the largest Samarkand bazaar, so everyone goes to the right loaded, and to the left empty.

Another famous landmark of Samarkand is the observatory of Ulugbek, the second most important national hero.

There is a sign hanging in the observatory, according to which Ulugbek surpassed absolutely all ancient scientists in all astronomical calculations. Apparently, thanks to this huge sextant with a diameter of 36 meters.

There is also a portrait of Aristotle hanging inside. I then thought, why is the word ETICA written so funny on the book?....

And when I visited the Vatican and saw the fresco “The School of Athens,” I realized that it was just a copy of Raphael.

The last significant place in Samarkand is the memorial complex Shahi-Zinda (literally “living king”), which, since the 14th century, has been the tomb of khans and other great people.

I will not torment you with the names of the mausoleums and the names of the people buried there - I will only say that this is a very peaceful and calm place.

A funny dog that was huddled in one of the corners - and I, who pinned her in this corner with my large camera (soon there will be a separate large post made entirely from similar photos).

Prokudin-Gorsky:

And a few more photos from the late 1970s.

On the last day we decided to go out of town for pilaf. To do this, we bought a ram and rice and headed to Hazrat Dawood - the cave of St. Dawood. There they gave the lamb and rice to the cook, and they themselves went upstairs to the holy place. In order to get there, you need to overcome 1303 steps. The steps are quite narrow, and there is a brisk trade in all sorts of consumer goods. There were a lot of people (I think it was Sunday), everyone was jostling, children were making noise, and pensioners were relaxing on the steps. And wild heat.

We went upstairs - and there was the smell of a toilet and terrible garbage. And all the trees are in bandages. There was a terrible crowd in the cave where Davud prayed, so we didn’t go there and just admired the surrounding landscapes and local fauna.

And there, from time to time, people with cameras came up to us and asked to take pictures with us, as if we were with aliens.

Another cave in which Davud worked is lower, and there was no one there at all except the Tajik caretaker boy.

The main relic is a stone with Davud's handprint.

We ate pilaf (we only managed to eat a little, because we were so tired of it), and went back to the city. In the evening - to an ice cream parlor (I only ate such a delicious ice cream as a child!), and in the morning to the airport, where I had to deal with idiocy, bureaucracy and complete contempt for people. This was expressed both in attitude and in actions. For example, looking at the crossed out car battery drawn on the airline ticket, customs officers (after we checked in our luggage) refused to let us board until we checked in the batteries from cameras and phones in our luggage. Moreover, the issue was not solved with money either - banal local tyranny. Again there was a full search, and one guy from National Geographic almost had all his lenses taken apart and didn’t want to believe that one of his cameras was film, and there was no need to open it, otherwise it would light up. I hope something has changed there since then.

But if we put aside these rudiments of Soviet feudalism, then, on the whole, the trip turned out to be wonderful. I still remember it as one of the most rich and colorful. Although I’m probably unlikely to go a second time.