EnsemblesUnder 1 km away
Shaybanid Dakhma
A raised marble platform on the Registan in Samarkand with 36 gravestones of the Shaybanid dynasty, including Muhammad Shaybani Khan, from the 16th century.
Sher-Dor Madrasa
The 17th-century madrasa on the east side of the Registan in Samarkand, named for the tiger-like lions chasing gazelles on its portal.
EnsemblesUNESCO World Heritage1619–1636About 30 minutes to see
About the place
Yalangtush Bahadur, governor of Samarkand for the Bukharan khans, paid for this madrasa, built by the architect Abdul Jabbar in 1619–1636 with decoration by Muhammad Abbas. To make room, Ulugbek's khanaka of 1424 was taken down, and its bricks went into the new building, which was designed as a mirror image of the Ulugbek Madrasa facing it across the square.
The builders did not allow for the square having risen about two metres in two centuries, so Sher-Dor came out a little squatter than its model. Its portal shows a maned, tiger-like beast chasing a gazelle under a rising sun with a human face, an image that has become a national symbol of Uzbekistan. With the Ulugbek and Tilla-Kari madrasas it forms the Registan ensemble.
Why go
- The famous lion-and-sun mosaic on the portal
- One of the three madrasas of the Registan
- A mirror image of the Ulugbek Madrasa opposite
Sources (4)
Nearby
- Ensembles
MuseumsUnder 1 km away
Chorsu Gallery
A domed eighteenth-century trading hall behind the Registan, now used as an art gallery.
EnsemblesUnder 1 km awayUNESCO World Heritage
Registan
The central square of old Samarkand, framed on three sides by the Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor and Tilla-Kari madrasas.
EnsemblesUnder 1 km away
Chorsu Trading Dome, Samarkand
An 18th-century domed market hall just south-east of the Registan, now an art gallery run by the Academy of Arts.