The Bibi Khanum mosque, built between 1399 and 1404 in Samarkand, bears the name of one of Tamerlane's wives. • ISTOCKPHOTO Capital of the empire of Tamerlane, Samarkand (the "city of stone", in Sogdian) was for centuries a crossing point of the Silk Road and the most important city of Central Asia. Currently located in Uzbekistan, it was founded in the VIII th -VII e centuries BC. J.-C. Samarkand then passed under the control of the various peoples who succeeded each other in the area:Sogdians, Macedonians, Sassanids, Hephthalites, Göturks, Umayyads, Abbasids, Karakhanids, Mongols, then Timurids, to name only the most important. Following the Battle of Talas in 751, when the Abbasids, victors over the Chinese, discovered paper, Samarkand became its main production centre. Before the arrival of Tamerlane, Samarkand therefore had a rich history, but, after the eventful passage of the Genghiskhanids, the city bears the marks of the abuses it suffered during the Mongol period, as attested by the traveler and explorer Ibn Battuta, of passage in 1334:"There were once, on the bank, imposing palaces and buildings which let guess the ambition of the inhabitants of Samarkand. But most were destroyed like much of the city. » The symbol of the Timurid renaissance During the second half of the XIV th century, the city is tossed about by the conflicts which shake the old khanate of Djaghataï, of which Tamerlan will soon pick up the pieces. Born and raised not far from Samarkand, Tamerlane will be keen to restore it to the luster of its past and elevate it to new heights. Samarkand will not only be the capital of his empire, it will in a way constitute its raison d'être and the supreme achievement. Armed with the cohorts of architects, engineers, craftsmen he picked up during his campaigns, Tamerlan implemented the major projects that would give the city the character that will be his until today, and which symbolizes the Timurid renaissance. . His grandson, Uluğ Beg, will have an important part in this company. Among the jewels of the city, the Bibi Khanum mosque, the Registan square and its madrasas, the Gur-e Mir, tomb of Tamerlane, or the Uluğ Beg observatory bear witness to the Timurids' attachment to religion and knowledge, and the importance of the tutelary figure of the founder of the dynasty.
