Shahrisabz

Shakhrisabz (Uzbek: Shahrisabz / Шаҳрисабз; Persie: شهر سبز / Shahr-e Sabz‎; Roushie: Шахрисабз), is a ceety in Uzbekistani province o Qashqadaryo locatit approximately 80 km sooth o Samarkand wi the population o 53,000 (1991). It is locatit at the altitude o 622 m. Ance a major ceety o Central Asie, it is primarily kent the day as the birthplace o 14t century Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur. Its name (شهر سبز) means "green/verdant ceety" in Persian.

History

Umwhile kent as Kash (i.e., "hert-pleasin") an tentatively identifee'd wi the auncient Nautaca Shahrisabz shoud be coontit amang Central Asie’s maist auncient ceeties. It wis foondit mair nor 2700 years ago.

Frae the 6t tae 4t centuries BC it wis a pairt o Akhemenid empire.

Alexander the Great's general Ptolemy captured the satrap o Bactrie an pretender tae the Persie throne, Bessus, at Nautaca thus endin the ance great Achaemenid Empire. Alexander the Great chose tae spend his winters an met his wife Roxanna in the aurie in 328-327 BC.

Frae 4t tae 8t century Kesh wis ane o urban centers o Sogdiana.

Atween 567 an 658 rulers o Kesh paid taxes tae caghans o Turkic an Wastren Turkic caghanates.

In 710 ceety wis conqured bi Arabs.

Shahrisabz wis the birthplace o Timur on Aprile 9, 1336, tae the faimily o a minor local chief, an durin the early years o the Timurid dynasty, enjoyed its considerable patronage. Timur regardit Shahrisabz as his “hame toun” an planned it eventually tae be the location o his tomb. Housomeivver, durin the Timurid period, the centre o activity shiftit tae Samarkand insteid.

Accordin tae legend, The Khan o Bukhara, Abdullah Khan II haed the ceety destroyed in a fit o rage ower the daith o his favorite horse frae exhaustion on a steep approach the ceety, but wis later owercome wi remorse for the damage he haed done.

The ceety struggled for autonomy unner Bukharan rule. The Roushies helped Bukharan emir tae conquere the ceety in 1870.

Ethnography

Shahrisabz is ane o Uzbakistan's touns an ceeties wi a Persie-speakin Tajik majority. The kintraside is solidly Tajik, pairticularly in the direction o the east an Tajikistan. The Uzbeks, "Chaghatay" an "Turks" form a lairge minority in the ceety. The Roushie minority is dwindlin syne 1991 an the collapse o the Soviet Union.

Monuments

Entrance tae the Ark fortress.

Several remainin impressive monuments frae the Timurid dynasty hae enabled the auld pairt o the ceety tae be inscribed on the UNESCO Warld Heritage Leet.(See Leet o Warld Heritage Steids in Uzbekistan)

• Aq-Saray Palace

Timur's Simmer Palace, the “White Palace” wis planned as the maist grandiose o aw Timur's constructions. It wis stairtit in 1380 bi airtisans deportit bi Timur frae the recently-conquered Khwarezm. Unfortunately, anerliey traces o its gigantic 65 m gate-touers survive, wi blue, white an gowd mosaics. Abuin the entry o the Ak-Saray are big letters sayin: "If ye challenge oor pouer - leuk at oor biggins!"

• Kok Gumbaz Mosque / Dorut Tilyovat (Dorut Tilavat) Complex

A Friday mosque biggit in 1437 bi Ulugh Beg in honour o his faither Shah Rukh, its name meanin “Blue Dome”. Locatit immediately ahint the Kok Gumbaz Mosque is the sae-cried “Hoose o Meditation”, a mausoleum biggit bi Ulugh Beg in 1438 but apparently niver uised for burials.

• Hazrat-i Imam Complex

East o the Kok Gumbaz is anither mausoleum complex cried Dorussiadat (Seat o Pouer an Micht), which contains the Tomb o Jehangir, Timur’s eldest an favorite son. The adjacent mosque is said tae hoose the tomb o a revered 8t century imam Amir Kulal.

Dorussiadat mausoleum

• Tomb o Timur

Ahint the Hazrat-i Imam Emsemble is a bunker wi a door leadin tae an unnergrund chamber, discovered bi airchaeologists in 1943. The room is nearly filled wi a single stane casket, on which inscriptions indicate that it wis intendit for Timur. Housomeivver, the conqueror wis buried in Samarkand, no at Shahrisabz, an mysteriously, his tomb in Shahrisabz contained twa unidentifee'd corpse.

An a o interest are medieval baths an an 18t century bazaar.

In popular cultur

In 1980s the Uzbek group "Yalla" wrote a sang aboot Shahrisabz.

Freemit airtins

• History an monuments o Shahrisabz
• Square Kufic decoration on Timur's Simmer Palace
• Square Kufic decoration on the Dar al-Siyadah Complex
• Square Kufic decoration on the Dar al-Tilavah Complex
• Yalla - "Shahrisabz" on YouTube

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