Located along the Silk Road, Uzbekistan preserves ancient cities such as Kiwa and Bujara, full of charm, as well as superb landscapes on the border between mountains, steppes and desert.
The Kaylan Mosque, in Bukhara, is a beautiful example of Shiite architecture, with its high portal adorned with colorful pottery.
Located in the northeastern part of Samarkand, Shah-i-Zinda is one of the most fascinating necropolises in Central Asia. Its name means "The Living King" and recalls the legend according to which Qutham ibn Abbas, cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, who arrived in the seventh century to spread Islam in the region, is buried here (or rather, hidden in an invisible dimension). This tradition gives the place an aura of intense spirituality that still permeates the entire complex today.
Shah-i-Zinda is not a monument born in a single era, but a stratified set of mausoleums, mosques and chapels built between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries. The oldest structures date back to the 11th-12th centuries, but most of the magnificent ornate buildings you see today belong to the Timurid period (14th-15th centuries). Many mausoleums were erected for members of Tamerlane's family, nobles and dignitaries who wished to be buried near the sacred place of the "living king".
Shah-i-Zinda is not a monument born in a single era, but a stratified set of mausoleums, mosques and chapels built between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries. The oldest structures date back to the 11th-12th centuries, but most of the magnificent ornate buildings you see today belong to the Timurid period (14th-15th centuries). Many mausoleums were erected for members of Tamerlane's family, nobles and dignitaries who wished to be buried near the sacred place of the "living king".
