Editing Samarkand (section)

==Architecture==
[[File:Building Samarkand Mosque.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Building the Great Mosque of Samarkand. Illustration by [[Bihzad]] for the [[Zafarnama (Yazdi biography)|Zafar-Nameh]]. Text copied in [[Herat]] in 1467–68 and illuminated the late 1480s. John Work Garret Collection, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.]]

Timur initiated the building of Bibi Khanum after his 1398–1399 campaign in India. Bibi Khanum originally had about 450 marble columns, which were hauled there and set up with the help of 95 elephants that Timur had brought back from Hindustan. Artisans and stonemasons from India designed the mosque's dome, giving it its distinctive appearance amongst the other buildings. An 1897 earthquake destroyed the columns, which were not entirely restored in the subsequent reconstruction.<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/>

The best-known landmark of Samarkand is the mausoleum known as Gur-i Amir. It exhibits the influences of many cultures, past civilizations, neighboring peoples, and religions, especially those of Islam. Despite the devastation wrought by Mongols to Samarkand's pre-Timurid Islamic architecture, under Timur these architectural styles were revived, recreated, and restored. The blueprint and layout of the mosque itself, with their precise measurements, demonstrate the Islamic passion for [[geometry]]. The entrance to the Gur-i Amir is decorated with Arabic [[calligraphy]] and inscriptions, the latter a common feature in Islamic architecture. Timur's meticulous attention to detail is especially obvious inside the mausoleum: the tiled walls are a marvelous example of [[mosaic]] [[faience]], an Iranian technique in which each tile is cut, colored, and fit into place individually.<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/> The tiles of the Gur-i Amir were also arranged so that they spell out religious words such as "[[Muhammad]]" and "Allah."<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/>

The ornamentation of the Gur-i Amir's walls includes floral and vegetal motifs, which signify gardens; the floor tiles feature uninterrupted floral patterns. In Islam, gardens are symbols of paradise, and as such, they were depicted on the walls of tombs and grown in Samarkand itself.<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/> Samarkand boasted two major gardens, the New Garden and the Garden of Heart's Delight, which became the central areas of entertainment for ambassadors and important guests. In 1218, a friend of Genghis Khan named Yelü Chucai reported that Samarkand was the most beautiful city of all, as "it was surrounded by numerous gardens. Every household had a garden, and all the gardens were well designed, with canals and water fountains that supplied water to round or square-shaped ponds. The landscape included rows of willows and cypress trees, and peach and plum orchards were shoulder to shoulder."<ref>{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Xinru |title=The Silk Road in world history |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-516174-8}}</ref> Persian carpets with floral patterns have also been found in some Timurid buildings.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cohn-Wiener |first=Ernst |title=An Unknown Timurid Building |journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs |date=June 1935 |volume=66 |issue=387 |pages=272–273+277 |jstor=866154}}</ref>

The elements of traditional Islamic architecture can be seen in traditional mud-brick Uzbek houses that are built around central courtyards with gardens.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/603/ |access-date=2018-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516103352/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/603/ |archive-date=2018-05-16 |url-status=live}}</ref> Most of these houses have painted wooden ceilings and walls. By contrast, houses in the west of the city are chiefly European-style homes built in the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name=":1" />

Turko-Mongol influence is also apparent in Samarkand's architecture. It is believed that the melon-shaped domes of the mausoleums were designed to echo [[Yurt|''yurts'' or ''gers'']], traditional Mongol tents in which the bodies of the dead were displayed before burial or other disposition. Timur built his tents from more-durable materials, such as bricks and wood, but their purposes remained largely unchanged.<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/> The chamber in which Timur's own body was laid included "[[Tug (banner)|tugs]]", poles whose tops were hung with a circular arrangement of horse or yak tail hairs. These banners symbolized an ancient Turkic tradition of sacrificing horses, which were valuable commodities, to honor the dead.<ref name="Marefat 1992 33–38"/> Tugs were also a type of cavalry standard used by many nomads, up to the time of the Ottoman Turks.

Colors of buildings in Samarkand also have significant meanings. The dominant architectural color is blue, which Timur used to convey a broad range of concepts. For example, the shades of blue in the Gur-i Amir are colors of mourning; in that era, blue was the color of mourning in Central Asia, as it still is in various cultures today. Blue was also considered the color that could ward off "the [[evil eye]]" in Central Asia; this notion is evidenced by in the number of blue-painted doors in and around the city. Furthermore, blue represented water, a particularly rare resource in the Middle East and Central Asia; walls painted blue symbolized the wealth of the city.

Gold also has a strong presence in the city. Timur's fascination with vaulting explains the excessive use of gold in the Gur-i Amir, as well as the use of [[Goldwork (embroidery)|embroidered gold fabric]] in both the city and his buildings. The Mongols had great interests in Chinese- and Persian-style golden silk textiles, as well as ''nasij''<ref>{{cite web |title=Textiles in "The world of Kubilai Khan" @ Metropolitan Museum, New York |date=25 December 2010 |url=http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2010/12/25/19964881.html |access-date=2020-05-23 |website=Alain.R.Truong |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118044543/http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2010/12/25/19964881.html |archive-date=2019-11-18 |url-status=deviated}}</ref> woven in [[Iran]] and Transoxiana. Mongol leaders like [[Ögedei Khan]] built textile workshops in their cities to be able to produce gold fabrics themselves.

===Suburbs===
Suburbs of the city include: Gulyakandoz, Superfosfatnyy, Bukharishlak, Ulugbek, Ravanak, Kattakishlak, Registan, Zebiniso, Kaftarkhona, Uzbankinty.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Superfosfatnyy,+Uzbekistan/@39.6761233,66.9140197,28690m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3f4d1af650279a57:0x4ff7249d3d5dafb8!8m2!3d39.67305!4d66.853607 |title=Superfosfatnyy · Uzbekistan |website=Superfosfatnyy · Uzbekistan}}</ref>