Holiday in Central Asia (18): Shakhrisabz in Uzbekistan
Today (Day 17) was technically a day at leisure but, although I had been there in 2006, I had previously signed up for an optional excursion to Shakhrisabz for an extra £50. In fact, but one of the group decided to make the trip (the odd one out had been before) and we made the two-hour journey in three cars. All the drivers were pretty manic, driving constantly at about 100 km per hour (around 70 mph) which seemed faster on roads which, while decent by the standards of Central Asia, were far from the standard of a British motorway.
Shakhrisabz is famous as the birthplace of Tamerlane who gave it its present name which in Tajik stands for ‘Green Town’.
Timur bin Taraghay Barlas (1336–1405) was a 14th century warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, conqueror of much of Western and central Asia, and founder of the Timurid Empire (1370–1405) in Central Asia and of the Timurid dynasty which survived in some form until 1857. He is also known as Timur-e Lang which translates to Timur the Lame or Tamerlane, as he was lame after sustaining an injury to the leg as a child.
He was born in Shakhrisabz in 1346 and later ruled over an empire that extended in modern nations from south eastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, through central Asia encompassing part of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, even approaching Kashgar in China.
Tamerlane’s legacy is a mixed one, for while Central Asia blossomed, some say even peaked, under his reign, other places such as Baghdad, Damascus and other Arab, Persian and Turkic cities were sacked and destroyed and many thousands of people were slaughtered. He is therefore one of history’s greatest and cruelest conquerors responsible for an estimated 17 million deaths as a result of his 14 military campaigns.
However, under the post-independence Karimov regime and subsequently, Tamerlane is revered as the founder of the Uzbek nation, even though he was not an Uzbek, he did not speak Uzbek, and he massacred large numbers of Uzbeks.
The main sight in Shakhrisabz is the Ak-Seray or White Palace. The palace is named as the colour denoting noble descent, not as the visual impression, since blue, green and gold patterned the vast mosaics. When Tamerlane had it constructed at the beginning of the 15th century, two towers of 215 feet (65 metres) flanked a portal arch of 130 feet (40 metres) high and 70 feet (22 metres) wide, but the central arch collapsed a couple of centuries ago and the two remaining towers are in a sorry state of repair.
Nevertheless it remains awesome and underlines Tamerlane’s boast “Let he who doubts our power and munificence look upon our buildings”. The open park behind Ak-Seray used to have a statue of Lenin but, since 1996, it has displayed a huge statue of local hero Tamerlane.
Since my visit in 2006, much of central Shakhrisabz has been destroyed and replaced by open areas which seemingly are popular with the locals but angered the administrators of the UN World Heritage Site scheme.
Besides the Ak Serai, the other main place to be visited in Shakhrisabz is a pair of ensembles called Dor-us-Siadat (Seat of Power and Might) and Dor-ut-Tilavat (Seat of Respect and Consideration). In 2006, we saw both but, on this visit, we only went to the first because our guide insisted that the second had been reconstructed used in a very poor style.
Dor-us-Siadat is a crumbling mausoleum that was built to honour Jehangir, the eldest and favourite son of Tamerlane who was killed in 1375 aged only 22 when he fell from a horse. Behind the mausoleum is a crypt discovered in 1943 when a child playing football fell through the ground. This is still called Tamerlane’s crypt although he was never buried here and the simple musty room seems far too plain for such a conqueror.
We were back in Samarkand in time for a late lunch in a grand restaurant named after the city. Before we left the restaurant, Timur broke the news that, two days before we were due to enter the fifth and final country of our tour, Turkmenistan had decided not to admit us. This is in spite of all the reassurances from VJV before our departure that we could purchase a visa for $100 at the Turkmenistan border. At this stage, we have no idea what the revised arrangements will be.
After a leisurely dinner at one more city restaurant, the “Istiqlol”, we continued with our planned itinerary by taking an evening train from Samarkand to Bukhara. This is a journey of 276 km (170 miles) which took an hour and a half in comfortable style.