108For more information on ASIAN Geographic’s forthcoming expeditions
to India and Bhutan, visit http://www.asiangeo.com/expeditionsFour hours’ drive from Bukhara
is Samarkand, one of the oldest
inhabited cities in Central Asia. We
braced ourselves for Siab Bazaar, a
dekhkan (agriculture market) packed
with locals and tourists. The smell of
freshly baked Uzbek bread lingered
with us as we made our way to the
Bibi-Khanym Mosque, the regal blue
domes glinting in the sunlight. The
mosque was built in homage to the
favourite wife of warlord Amir Timur.
After visiting the Mausoleum
of St Daniel and the Shah-I-Zinda
Necropolis, we headed to Timur’s
tomb, the Gur-e Amir Mausoleum. It
was here that a soviet anthropologist
sent by Stalin opened the crypts on
June 19, 1941 and found an inscription
inside which read: “Whoever opens
my tomb shall be defeated by an
invader more fearsome than I.” The
body was subsequently removed.
Three days later, Hitler invaded the
Soviet Union. Coincidence? Or divine
prophecy? If you want persuasion in
favour of the former, consider that
when the body of Timur was returned
to his tomb on December 20, 1942,
the German forces surrendered.
Back in Tashkent, we explored
Khast-Imam Square to see the Qur’an
of Caliph Uthman, an 8th or 9th
century manuscript. Blood stains are
still visible on some pages, and it’s
believed that Uthman was killed while
reading it. After some final shopping
at the Chorsu Bazaar, and a tourof the State Museum of History of
Uzbekistan, we bade our farewells.
Uzbekistan’s complex history
intersects with its distinctly post-
Soviet culture in a convergence of
old and new, of ancient memory
and invention. Despite the creep of
modernity, it retains its old-world
charm, and its relative isolation,
leaving its many historic gems just
waiting to be discovered. agIMAGE © MICHAEL LEEIMAGE © ASIAN GEOGRAPHICThe group outside Itchan Kala in KhivaA traditional Uzbek dance