Timur’s scholarly grandson, Ulugh Beg, was more interested in the stars above then following in his grandfathers footsteps in the battlefields below. His life’s ambition was to make his city of Samarkand the center of Islamic education and did this by inviting many other scholars to teach, study and conduct research inside the Registan. Kazu-ZadeContinue reading “Duality”
Category Archives: Samarkand
The World Shall Tremble
Ambitious warlord, patron of the arts and or just a bloodthirsty and vengeful tyrant? Timur the Great or Timur the Terrible. His reign centered here in Samarkand where many still revere him. He now lays to rest under a tombstone made of jade whose inscription reads: “When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble.”
Color Blind
I’ve always been entranced by the vibrate tile work exteriors on historic buildings across much of Central Asia and Iran. But why so much blue? Isn’t green the color of Islam? Turns out that in many cultures and languages, there is little to no distinction between the two. Ask a Japanese person what the colorsContinue reading “Color Blind”
farflungistan 