Mausoleum of Gur Emir

Mausoleum of Gur Emir

Mausoleum of Gur Emir

GUR-AMIR mausoleum
(World Heritage)

Gur-Amir Mausoleum, Amir Timur's tomb is one of the best examples of medieval oriental architecture and one of the most significant monuments of the Temurid times. The mausoleum was commissioned by himself during the reign of Timur in the autumn of 1404. The mausoleum was originally planned for Mohammed Sultan, Timur's beloved grandson and successor, who died in Iran in 1403. The place for the prince's internment was planned near Mohammed Sultan's madrasah and Chanakah, which had been erected opposite the other during his lifetime. Their facades face the courtyard with four Ayvan terraces and minarets at the corners; the entrance to the courtyard was decorated with a mosaic-like tile. The space between the madrasah and Chanakah is just enough for the mausoleum, as if the unknown architects of these two structures had left it on purpose. Today, if you look at the height of the walls that were built on the old foundations, one can easily imagine the layout of the courtyard and the madrasah. Two of the minarets have also been restored. In February 1405, just six months after the foundation stone of the mausoleum, Timur fell ill and died in the city of Otrar during a military expedition. During his lifetime Timur prepared a resting place for himself in the family funeral of Dorus Saodat in Shahrisabz, a mausoleum next to one of his older son Jahangir, who had died at a young age. But the mausoleum remained empty. In secret, to avoid confusion in the army, Amir Timur's body was secretly transported to Samarkand, where the solemn funeral was taking place. The medieval historian Ibn Arabshah described the interior of the mausoleum during the funeral service: “At Timur's tomb he laid his clothes, on the walls hung his weapons and equipment, everything was decorated with precious stones and gilded. Gold and silver chandeliers hung from the ceiling like the stars in the sky. The floor was covered with velvet and silk carpets. "
Timur's mausoleum is impressive due to the harmony of proportions: on an octahedral base stands a cylindrical drum crowned with a large 39-foot ribbed dome covered with greenish-blue majolica coating, with blue ornamental pattern panels. The lower part of the structure is covered with marble slabs. In the early 19th century, a major earthquake destroyed the top of the dome, but it was later rebuilt. Above the entrance to the mausoleum, a mosaic plate with the inscription in Arabic: "This is the tomb of Amir Timur Guragan, the Sultan of the world." In 1905 the plate was stolen. The wooden doors of the mausoleum were covered with engravings and inlays. The interior of the mausoleum is notable for the magnificence of its ornamentation. The walls around the perimeter were covered with slabs of semi-transparent onyx with green stones. The plates at the top in a stalactite wreath profile are carved in marble with phrases from the Koran. The marble carvings were gilded and covered with lapis lazuli. The medieval art of stone carving in the interior of the Gur-Amir Mausoleum is beautifully depicted. The composite panjara bars on the windows were also carved from marble. The dome and the gusset are decorated with painting in gold on paper mache ornaments. Under the dome inside the mausoleum, tombstones are enclosed by a fascinating openwork marble rail. The most notable among them Tombstones is Timur's tombstone, which is covered with dark green nephrite. In 1740, the troops of the Nadir Shah from Iran, who conquered Samarkand, removed the precious tombstone and transported it to the Shah's palace in Mashhad. However, upon examining the stone, the Shah ordered it to be returned to its original place. One can easily see that the tombstone is split in two. In fact, the rift happened during transit to Iran. Under the floor of the mausoleum there is a crypt that can be accessed by going down the stairs. In the crypt there are real graves with headstones made of white and gray marble. In addition to the graves of Muhammad Sultan and Amir Timur himself, there are the graves of Timur's sons Shahrukh and Miranshah as well as the grave of his grandson Ulugbek. Next to them is the grave of Mir Sayid Baraka, the Timur minister

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