Dinosaurs In Samarkand!

Everything goes in a museum diorama. War, historic events, taxidermy are all popular themes. How about some mini dinosaurs in a bunch of aquarium-like boxes? Do it.

In the main museum in Samarkand, a little collection tucked into a corner. Don't trip on the jumbo bones.

Adorable, especially the handmade landscaping.

Boom! background.

Bringing the attitude.

Paleo MMA back in the day.

Details Of Samarkand, Part Three

What other little visual gifts you got, Samarkand?

Building construction in the standard concrete with brick filler design.

Decorative wall behind the Registan and a sea of sprinklers in the morning light. A mighty mural, a type of art commonly featured on many apartment buildings throughout Uzbekistan.

Heavily groomed park with a big, fake, metallic tree.

Throwback medallion. Golden disc commemorating 50 years of atomic accomplishment research at a university. Sweet looking sweets outside a shop.

The everyday next to the timeless. Always good to get a parking space close to a monument. 

Period Rooms At The Samarkand Museum

What was it like during the time of the Tzars? How about stopping off for the night with your camels during your trek along the Silk Road? Wonder no more, head to the main museum in Samarkand and check out some of the period rooms.

Old Russian Tzar life, fine rooms with rich detail.

Ogling the details. The wallpaper is practically 3D. Leather? That big green tile tower is a heater. Ballroom entrance. It must be some ballroom.

It is!

Dialing it back about 600 years from Tzar time, all one asks for is a clean carpet for a little rest.

Of course, the carpets could also get a bit fancy in their day.

Jewish Life Exhibit At The Samarkand Museum

Few Jews still live in Uzbekistan, especially after WWII and the establishment of Israel. A way out was available and they took it. The Samarkand Museum has a nice exhibit devoted to Jewish life in that city, a reminder of a once vibrant community there. 

One of the exhibition rooms, full of artifacts of secular and religious life. 

A map showing the biggest Jewish communities throughout the old Silk Road routes. Jewish holy scripture, a Torah. 

A nice life size model of a sukkah, a temporary structure used by farmers as a dwelling during harvest time. It's now part of the Sukkot fall festival. 

Candle holders and religious texts, always popular Judaica. Don't forget the arts: who doesn't want to hear a little Yiddish theater song throw down? 

And painting, Jews (Chagall, Modigliani, Freud, Rothko) are good with a brush.

The Gur-i Amir Necropolis In Samarkand

Poor humble Timur, all he wanted was a simple grave in his hometown of Shakhrisabz. Forget that idea. Instead, ancestors expanded a site built originally for Timur's grandson. The Gur-i Amir would eventually include many Timur family members.

Main entrance, impressive.

Timur and family tombs. In the courtyard, carved wooden doors and understated tile work.

One thing not understated is the blinding bling of the domed ceiling over the graves. Heaven is a lot closer for royalty.

Alcove stalactite tile work. You want blue or white?

Parts of the complex have been left un-restored, a nice peek into history.

Details Of Samarkand, Part Two

Wandering the streets of Samarkand, stopping at some non-sites.

Restaurant mural. Pristine waterfalls or giant slabs of raw beef?

Memorial flowers at a cemetery. All plastic. Dusty field with poles.

A neighborhood market, low on inventory.

A tree grows in Samarkand. Apparently, all it needs is a gutter. Quickie Silk Road character cutout photo op.

Samarkand Costco. Toilet paper, jars of pickled tomatoes, cooking oil, diapers by the pallet.

Samarkand's Shimmering Shah-i-Zinda.

The best old tile work in Uzbekistan is at the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis in Samarkand. The complex is a collection of about 20 mausoleum buildings, most encrusted with stunning tiles. Titans of the Silk Road are buried here: rulers, Timur relatives, clergy, military folks and even a purported cousin of Mohammad.

The complex is a slow growth endeavor, built between the 11th and 19th centuries. Those mausoleums aren't going to tile themselves.

A kaleidoscope of blue shades. Why stop with the exterior? Inside one of the mausoleums.

Why stop at the walls? Endless tiling, the ceiling, the dome, whatever surface is available.

Back outside, rest the corneas for more tile work. Forget flat, tiles cover stalactite shapes and columns.

The sun may be setting, no dimming on the impressive facades.

Looking At The Ulugh Beg Observatory In Samarkand

Mirzo Ulugh Beg was a famous astronomer and mathematician in Uzbekistan who did his ground-breaking work in the early 15th century. Many of his discoveries and calculations were not matched in the West until almost 100 years later.

Ulugh Beg built an observatory in Samarkand, a building that featured a large arc apparatus, called a quadrant principle device. Sounds complicated.

There's now a museum devoted to the work of Ulugh Beg at the archeological site of the arc.

The museum has a wide variety of astronomy buff gear, from measuring devices to star notes.

The famous quadrant principle device. The only section still intact is this underground piece, buried and preserved long after the building above it was left to ruin.

Now, the arc section is restored and housed in a throwback madrasa-resembling cover. The reverse view of the arc.

The man, the mathematician, the astronomer, the legend. He gets the big sculpture treatment all over Uzbekistan.