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Photo: ShHamrayev, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Abd-al Maziddin was a notable Islamic judge who died around 861 AD - "darun" means his burial plot was outside the city wall. A small mausoleum was built in the 12th century, then a larger version in the 15th, replaced by another in the 19th then the version you see today in the early 20th.
Abdidarun Complex is an ancient shrine located on the eastern side of the Samarkand fortress wall. Various buildings appeared and became an architectural shrine around the tomb of Allama Abd Maziddin, who lived in the 9th century. In the center, the largest building – the hall stands out. Its facade, dome and wall decorations indicate that it is a product of the architecture of the Ulug Beg period. The shrine is a public building that served as a mosque. There is a mausoleum of the saint inside the hall. As a result of the renovation, the original appearance of the mausoleum building has changed. Since the pond in the middle of the courtyard is located on a spring, its water was kept at the same level in winter and summer, and it was considered healing among the population. The rooms around the courtyard and the mosque on the west side belong to the 19th century. Among the decorations of the mosque, the names of the masters have been preserved.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Built in the 1450s / 60s, probably as a burial place for the Timurid dynasty women, it was wrecked in an earthquake of 1903 and is now a hollow ruin.
Al Matrudi (853-944 AD) was a theologian whose teachings underlie one of the major strands of Sunni Islam. His original mausoleum was destroyed in 1940 and this is a retro creation of 2000.
This is one of the two local active synagogues, opened in 1891. It was closed during the Soviet era and reopened after Uzbekistan gained independence.. Unlike the second synagogue, this is primarily attended by so-called Bukharian Jews, although it also has a separate Ashkenazi hall. Services are conducted in Bukhori, a Jewish-Tajik language. In the past, there were over 30 synagogues in this Jewish quarter, catering to various professions. The name of the synagogue translates to "dome". There are now only a few Jews left in the city. Since the 1970s (their flow increased in the 1980s and 1990s), they have mostly moved to Israel and the United States, as well as to Europe, Canada, and Australia.
This magnificent square is the defining image, not only of Samarkand but of the whole Silk Road. It became the city's main square from the 15th century, Timurid times, after Afrosiab was abandoned. It's lined by three madrasahs, all with grand portals and richly adorned. Ulugbek on the west side is the oldest madrasah, from 1417; its upper floor has been lost. Shirdor facing it on the east side was built from 1619; "Shir" means tiger, from the motif on its portal. Tilya-Kori on the north side was built from 1646 and was also the grand mosque; the name means "gilded". Each madrasah is set around a courtyard, with student lodgings and classrooms.
An old but still active large mosque built in the 17th century. The exterior decoration is minimalistic, as the colorful tiles have been lost. It was built with funds from Nadir Divanbegi, a high-ranking official in Bukhara. The name of the mosque is translated as a "place for namaz (praying)".
Amir Temur Mausoleum
The warlord Timur or Tamerlane (c 1320-1405) preferred to campaign in spring / summer and lay up during the cruel steppes winter. On his last sortie, already in his eighties, in a hurry to attack Ming China, he sickened and died at Farab (nowadays Otrar), to no great sorrow by the Chinese ambassadors he'd imprisoned. It was impossible to transport him through the snow to the tomb he'd prepared at Shahrisabz, so he was laid here, in the tomb intended for his grandson who'd died of battle wounds in Turkey in 1403. Both bodies were reburied in 1409, as it became the Timurid dynastic crypt. The mausoleum is richly tiled and decorated: the piece of jade over Timur's headstone, the largest in the world, is a poke in the eye of the Emperor of China, since it was purloined from his palace.