Shakhi-Zinda Mausoleums, Samarkand

Shakhi-Zinda Mausoleums, Samarkand

The name Shakhi-Zinda means "Town of the Dead". Here tourists of Samarkand will find a complex consisting of more than twenty buildings, unique in Central Asia.

The first mausoleums from the left and right are the Emir-Zade and the Emit-Husin, where it is believed are buried people who were close confidants of the court. The next mausoleum on the left belongs to Tamerlane's niece, Shadi-Mulk, who died when she was very young. Tamerlane ordered his niece's mausoleum to be built reflecting her elegance, beauty and youth. The construction was overseen by Tamerlane's sister, Shirin-Bibi. Upon completion of the mausoleum, Shirin-Bibi had a mausoleum built beside it for herself. Both mausoleums were completed between 1371 and 1373.

Further along the way is an original, nameless mausoleum built by architects from Azerbaijan. It differs from other mausoleums in Uzbekistan in that the entrance to the crypt goes to the center of a side street, while the other mausoleums have their entrances in the back. Next is a row of nameless mausoleums built in the eleventh century. These remain nameless today because they were destroyed during an invasion by Chigiz-Han, another conqueror of Central Asia. These small remains are all that is left of the eleventh- century mausoleums. One of them is sometimes referred to as Usto Ali Nesefi y, the name of the architect. Another mausoleum is named for Emir Burunduk, the Commander-in-Chief of Tamerlane's army. Somewhat further down is the most ancient building of the eleventh century, Kusam ibn-Abbas, meaning "Alive King". Visitors who tour Samarkand will find it a land of many legends and one of them is about Kusam ibn-Abbas. Legend has it that in the eighth century during a sermon, Kusam ibn-Abbas was beheaded. However because he was a Holy Man, he said that a man of God could not be killed, so he picked up his head, put it beneath his arm, and descended into a shaft in Uzbekistan, where it is said he still lives. The mausoleum in Samarkand was erected for him in the eleventh century, and the cupola was rebuilt under orders from Amir Timur in the fourteenth century.

In the last courtyard there are three more structures built in the fourteenth century. One is an unknown mausoleum, and then there is the Tuman-aka mosque, and finally the Hodja Ahmad mausoleum. Judging from the decoration on the two mausoleums it is possible to ascertain they were built by Samarkand architects, who primarily used blue, white, and dark blue colors. The colors used on the Tuman-aka building are green, red, black and yellow. To the left of these buildings is the entrance to the largest Muslin cemetery, which was built in the ninth century and still used today by local Uzbekistan families.

Pictures of Shakhi-Zinda Mausoleums