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Uzbekistan lies astride the Silk Road,
the ancient trading route between China and the West (for
more details see the Silk Road in the China section). The
country boasts some of the finest architectural jewels among the Silk
Road countries, featuring intricate Islamic tile work, turquoise
domes, minarets and preserved relics from the time when Central Asia
was a centre of empire and learning. Good examples of this
architecture can be found in the ancient walled city of Khiva in
Urgench, the winding narrow streets of the old town of Bukhara and
Samarkand, known locally as the ‘Rome of the Orient’. The
Ferghana Valley, surrounded by the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains,
still produces silk and is well worth visiting for its friendly
bazaars and landscape of cotton fields, mulberry trees and fruit
orchards. Uzbektourism will arrange tours to suit taste
and budget. An increasing number of Western tour companies offer
packages that take travellers to Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent, with
all accommodation and travel paid before leaving. Owing
to the difficulties of touring independently, travellers with limited
time are advised to buy a package and make use of the services of a
recognised tour company.
TASHKENT :
The capital lies in the valley of the River
Chirchik and is the fourth-largest city in the CIS. Tashkent has
always been an important international transport junction.
Unfortunately, it preserves only a small proportion of its
architectural past. A massive earthquake in 1966 flattened much of the
old city and it was rebuilt with broad, tree-lined streets and the new
buildings are of little architectural interest. The earlier buildings
lie in the old town to the west of the centre. A myriad of narrow
winding alleys, it stands in stark contrast to the more modern
Tashkent. Of interest among the older buildings are the 16th-century
Kukeldash Madrasa, which is being restored as a museum, and the
Kaffali-Shash Mausoleum. Many of the Islamic sites in Tashkent
are not open to non-Muslims, and visitors should always ask permission
before entering a mosque or other religious building.
Tashkent houses many museums of Uzbek and pre-Uzbek culture. These
include the State Art Museum, which houses a collection of
paintings, ceramics and the Bukharan royal robes. The Museum of
Decorative and Applied Arts exhibits embroidered wall hangings and
reproduction antique jewellery. As important historical figures, such
as Amir Timur - better known as Tamerlane in the West - are being
given greater prominence, the exhibits and perspective of the museums
are also changing.
SAMARKAND :
Samarkand is the site of Alexander the Great’s
slaying of his friend Cleitos, the pivot of the Silk Road and the city
transformed by Timur in the 14th century into one of the world’s
greatest capitals. Founded over 5000 years ago, the city flourished
until the 16th century before the sea routes to China and the rest of
the East diminished its importance as a trading centre. Much of its
past glory survives or has been restored. The centre of the historical
town is the Registan Square, where three huge madrasas
(Islamic seminaries) - including Shir-Dor and Tillya-Kari
- built between the 15th and 17th centuries, dominate the area.
Decorated with blue tiles and intricate mosaics, they give some idea
of the grandeur that marked Samarkand in its heyday.
The Bibi Khanym Mosque, not far from the Registan, is testimony
to Timur’s love for his wife. Now it is a pale shadow of its former
self, having been partly destroyed in the 1897 earthquake, and seems
permanently under repair. However, it is still possible to see the
breadth of vision of the man who conquered so much of central and
south Asia.
Timur himself is buried in the Gur Emir. On the ground floor,
under the massive cupola, lie the ceremonial graves of Timur and his
descendants. The stone that commemorates Timur is reputed to be the
largest chunk of Nephrite (jade) in the world. The actual bodies are
situated in the basement, which unfortunately is not open to the
public.
The Shah-i-Zinda is a collection of the graves of some of
Samarkand’s dignitaries. The oldest date from the 14th century as
Samarkand was starting to recover from the depredations of the Mongol
hordes of the 13th century. Other sites of interest in Samarkand
include the Observatory of Ulug Beg, Timur’s grandson, which
was the most advanced astronomical observatory of its day. There is
also the Afrasiab Museum, not far from the observatory,
containing a frieze dating from the 6th century which shows a train of
gifts for the Sogdian ruler of the day.
BUKHARA :
West of Samarkand, Bukhara was once a centre of
learning renowned throughout the Islamic world. It was here that the
great Sheikh Bahautdin Nakshbandi lived. He was a central figure in
the development of the mystical Sufi approach to philosophy, religion
and Islam. In Bukhara, there are more than 350 mosques and 100
religious colleges. Its fortunes waxed and waned through succeeding
empires until it became one of the great Central Asian khanates in the
17th century.
The centre of historical Bukhara is the Shakristan, which
contains the Ark, or palace complex of the Emirs. Much of this
was destroyed by fire in the 1920s, but the surviving gatehouse gives
an impression of what the whole must have been like. Near the
gatehouse is the Zindan or jail of the Emirs, which has a
display of some of the torture methods employed by the Emirs against
their enemies.
Not far from the Ark, the 47m- (154ft-) high Kalyan Minaret, or
tower of death, was built in 1127 and, with the Ishmael Samani
Mausoleum, is almost the only structure to have survived the
Mongols. It was from here that convicted criminals were thrown to
their deaths. Other sites of interest in Bukhara include the Kalyan
Mosque, which is open to non - Muslims, the Ulug Beg Madrasa
- the oldest in Central Asia - and, opposite, the Abdul Aziz
Madrasa. Bukhara, with the narrow, twisting alleyways of its old
quarter, is full of architectural gems.
ELSEWHERE :
Khiva, northeast
of Bukhara, is near the modern and uninteresting city of Urgench.
Khiva is younger and better preserved than either Samarkand or Bukhara.
The city still lies within the original city walls, and has changed
little since the 18th century. Part of its attraction is its
completeness; although it has been turned into a museum town and is
hardly inhabited, it is possible to imagine what it was like in its
prime when it was a market for captured Russian and Persian slaves.
The Art Gallery in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan,
in the west of the country, has the best collection of Russian
avant-garde art outside St Petersburg. The Chatkalsky
Reserve in the western Tian-Shan is a narrow unspoilt gorge and
contains snow tigers, the rare Tian-Shan grey bear and the Berkut
eagle. |
