GUR-EMIR MAUSOLEUM

In the 14th century Samarkand rose in its southern suburb

(rabad). Amir Temur (1336–1405), the ruler of Western Cha-
gatay Ulus, made it his capital. The Great Temur formed a
huge empire from India to the Mediterranean. Samarkand
became a symbol of his new empire, where he started
unprecedented construction works. New architecture with
huge portals, high blue domes and refined majolica must
have competed against Eurasian capitals and meant the
birth of the Central Asian imperial style. Amir Temur died
before his grandiose Chinese campaign and was buried in
Gur-Emir Mausoleum. The mausoleum was built for Temur’s
grandson Muhammad-Sultan (1376–1403). The mother of
the young prince came from Chingizid kin and was a grand-
daughter of Uzbek-khan. At an early age Muhammad-Sultan
showed himself as a bright personality and was officiallyap-
pointed Amir Temur’s successor. Due to the tragic events

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Temur’s successor died while his grandfather was the alive
and the grieving ruler decided to bury him in the center of
Samarkand. For a burial place he chose a complex with a
madrasah and a khanaka, named after Muhammad-Sultan
(only parts of the foundations are still there). At the south-
ern wall an underground stone crypt was built where the
young prince’s body was buried. Very soon Amir Temur
himself was laid there to rest. Later the remains of Seyid
Berke, Amir Temur’s spiritual teacher were also reburied
there. The octahedral mausoleum with a ribbed dome was
finished in the time of the rule of another of Temur’s grand-
sons, Mirzo Ulugbek. At that time there were built the east-
ern gallery and the southern funeral premises. It is still a
mystery exactly when anotherremarkable cleric—who is
considered to beSeyid Omar, son of Bukhara sheikh Amir
Kulyal—was buried in Gur-Emir.

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TEMURID’S NECROPOLIS

The Gur-Emir underground crypt contains graves of three

more rulers along with Amir Temur and Muhammad-Sultan.
They are Temur’s son Miranshah (1366–1408) and Shahruh
(1377–1447), and his grandson Mirzo Ulugbek (1396–1449).
Miranshah was Temur’s third son whoat the age of 14 was
appointed by his father the governor of Khurasan. In the
1390s Miranshah received “the throne of Hulagu“, i.e.
became the governor of the southwestern Mongolian terri-
tories annexed by Temur’s empire. In 1408 Miranshah was
killed in a battle. Several years later his remains were
brought to Maverannahr and buried in Gur-Emir. Amir
Temur’s youngest son Shahruh was enthroned in Khurasan
and after his father’s death he became the supreme ruler of
the empire. He gave Maverannahr to his son Mirzo Ulugbek
who reigned there for over forty years being supported by
his father’s power. Shahruh died during a military campaign
and was buried in Herat. Ulugbek twice campaigned in
Khurasan and finally took Herat’s throne of his father. Then
Shahruh’s remains were reburied in Samarkand. In 1449
Ulugbek’s son Abdullatif rose against his father, dethroned
and killed him. Abdullatif was soon dethroned and the
remains of Ulugbek were buried in Gur-Emir. The arrange-
ment of the Temurid kings’ burials can be clearly seen in the
top room where the symbolic tombs stand. The tomb of
Sayid Berke occupies an honored upper place, Amir Temur’s
tomb is at his “feet“ and it is made of precious dark green
jade. To the east of it stands Muhammad Sultan’s tomb with
stalactite infringements. To the west of Temur’s tomb lie the
tombs of his sons Shahruh and Miranshah and to the
south—his grandson Mirzo Ulugbek. Right under these
decorative tombs, in the underground crypt there are the
burials and the grave tombs of these people. Amir Temur’s
remains lie in wooden coffin inside the marble sarcophagus.

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THE RUHABAD MAUSOLEUM
According to the words of Arabian
traveler Ibn Battuta in the 1340s the
head of Muslims in Peking, which was
the capital of Mongolian Chinese
empire, was Central Asian sheikh
Byrhan ad-Din Sagarji. It is known that
the sheikh belonged to “Suhravardiya“
Sufi tradition and for some time
preached Islam in Eastern Turkistan.
Before Battuta met him in Sufi khana-
kas in India. When sheikh Sagarji died
his son Abu Said brought his body to
Samarkand, obeying his father’s last
will. He buried him close to the grave
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of Samarkand sheikh Basir, who during
his lifetime had the highest status of
“kutb“ (“the pole“) in the Sufi hierarchy.
Abu Said stayed in Samarkand and
became one of the chief religious
tutors of Amir Temur. By the will of
Sahibkiran there was erected a mauso-
leum over the grave of sheikh Burhan
ad-Din Sagarji which got the name
Ruhabad—“the house of spirit“. The
existing dome of the mausoleum is an
inner dome. There was very likely an
outside dome, which might have been
ruined or never constructed.
МADRASAH AND MAUSOLEUM OF BIBI-KHANYM
The big madrasah built near the
cathedral mosque stood there till the
middle of the 18th century. It was
named Bibi-Khanym. That was the
name of Sarai-Mulk-Khanym, the
daughter of Kazan-khan from Chin-
gizids (1343–1346). When Amir Temur
married this woman he received the
honorable title of “Guragan“—“khan’s
son-in-law“. Originally the madrasah’s
portal was so large that it could com-
pete with the cathedral mosque. So
Temur ordered it to be reconstructed.
The madrasah was destroyedby Nodir-
shah’s troops in 1740. On the central
axis of madrasah there is the only pre-
served structure of a mausoleum
which is the tomb of Sarai-Mulk-Kha-
nym’s mother and two other women
from her family. This is a high octahe-
dral structure with a cylindrical drum
and Kufi inscriptions. The interior is
decorated with mosaics and vegeta-
tive ornaments including landscapes
of the Paradise garden. By the 20th
century the dome of the mausoleum
had been crushed so it had to be fully
restored.
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 BIBI-KHANYM MOSQUE

The Amir Temur Mosque also named Bibi-Khanym was con-

structed as the cathedral mosque of Samarkand—i.e. the
main mosque of Temurid Power—in the early 15th century.
The best architects, artists and craftsmen from conquered
countries were involved in the construction of this grandiose
complex and continued working for five years. Indian ele-
phants were used for heavy lifting and transporting. When
Temur returned after his western campaign he was disap-
pointed with the scale of construction and ordered the recon-
struction of the portal. They made it 45 m. high with big
pylons and minarets flanking the arch up to 60 m. The bronze
gates installed at the front entrance produced a long musical
sound. Those unique gates were taken as trophies by the Ira-
nian Nodir-shah who invaded Samarkand in 1740. Then they
were returned and later melted down for coins. The large yard
of the mosque (129×99 m) was laid with marble stones. It was

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for the thousands of believers coming for prayer. In the center
of the yard there was a pavilion for ritual ablutions. Now a
marble lectern for the huge Koran stands there. It was
made in the time of Ulugbek and decorated the interior of
the main building. The yard was fringed by an arch and
dome gallery placed on four hundred marble columns.
There are three constructions with domes on its axis—the
main mosque with a rostrum (minbar) for the imam in front
of the entrance portal and two small mosques on both
sides. The mosque was so gigantic that the brick design
could not bear its own weight and during the first decades
the mosque was collapsing little by little. The mosque of
the 15th century came down to us in the ruins of a powerful
entrance portal, three dome buildings and a minaret in the
corner. Conservation and partial restoration of the mosque
was completed in the late 19th-early to early 21st centuries.