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Registan

Religious and Sacred Buildings

The Registan is the historic public square at the heart of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, framed on three sides by monumental Islamic madrasas built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries under Timurid and later Bukharan rule. The oldest of the three, the Ulugh Beg Madrasa, was built around 1420 by the Timurid ruler and astronomer Ulugh Beg; the Sher-Dor Madrasa and the Tilya-Kori Madrasa were added directly opposite and alongside it in the early seventeenth century by the Bukharan governor Yalangtush Bahadur, deliberately mirroring the older building's scale and monumental portal to complete one symmetrical ensemble. Each madrasa combines a soaring, tiled entrance portal with an internal courtyard ringed by two stories of student cells, and their surfaces carry some of the most extensive surviving mosaic and majolica tilework of the Timurid architectural tradition, including the Sher-Dor Madrasa's unusual figurative tigers, a rare departure from the aniconic norm of Islamic religious decoration. The Registan and the historic center of Samarkand were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Facts
Partially Attested
Completed Year
1660 2
The ensemble was built in three stages: Ulugh Beg Madrasa 1417-1420, Sherdor Madrasa 1619-1636, Tillakori (Tilya-Kori) Madrasa 1646-1660. 1660 marks completion of the ensemble as it stands today, not a single build date.
Building Type
Public square and madrasa ensemble (Islamic religious and educational architecture) 2
Location
Samarkand, Uzbekistan 2
Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account
Standing 1
Connections

In Style

Islamic Architecture, Styles and Movements

An Islamic architecture landmark.

Timurid Architecture, Styles and Movements

The three-madrasa ensemble at the heart of Samarkand, built between the 15th and 17th centuries, the defining monument of Timurid architecture.

In the Other Atlases
  • Also in Geography Atlas: Uzbekistan, located there.
Sources
1. Registan (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Registan, officially the Registan Square (Uzbek: Registon maydoni) is a historic public square in the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
  • Registan, Tillakori Madrasa section heading
    Tillakori Madrasa (1646-1660)
  • Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
    The Registan is the historic public square at the heart of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, framed on three sides by monumental Islamic madrasas built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries under Timurid and later Bukharan rule. The oldest of the three, the Ulugh Beg Madrasa, was built around 1420 by the Timurid ruler and astronomer Ulugh Beg; the Sher-Dor Madrasa and the Tilya-Kori Madrasa were added directly opposite and alongside it in the early seventeenth century by the Bukharan governor Yalangtush Bahadur, deliberately mirroring the older building's scale and monumental portal to complete one symmetrical ensemble. Each madrasa combines a soaring, tiled entrance portal with an internal courtyard ringed by two stories of student cells, and their surfaces carry some of the most extensive surviving mosaic and majolica tilework of the Timurid architectural tradition, including the Sher-Dor Madrasa's unusual figurative tigers, a rare departure from the aniconic norm of Islamic religious decoration. The Registan and the historic center of Samarkand were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
View the Source
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
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