The historic town of Samarkand

The historic town of Samarkand is a crossroad and melting pot of the world's cultures. Founded in the 7th century BC as ancient Afrasiab, Samarkand had its most significant development in the Timurid period from the 14th to the 15th centuries. The major monuments include the Registan Mosque and madrasahs, Bibi-Khanum Mosque, the Shakhi-Zinda compound and the Gur-Emir ensemble, as well as Ulugh-Beg's Observatory.

Samarkand city is historically well-known social, political, cultural and economic center of central Asia. Being situated on the crossing of ways of Great Silk Road, Samarkand preserved
the values of ancient world cultures, religions and arts. Nowadays in the historical part of city there are a lot of magnificent samples of architecture and culture of ancient civilization (Afrosiab, Shakhi-Zinda, Registan, Gur-Emir and others). As Samarkand was the capital of ancient states it concentrated various ancient religions: Zoroastrism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The ancient material remains, related to these religions are the evidence of disappeared cultures.

Click to view and download the Nomination dossier of Samarkand--Crossroads of Cultures (inscripbed on 2000):

 samarkan dossier.pdf