Gur-e Amir

Gur-e Amir, "the Tomb of the Emir", is the mausoleum of Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror known in the West as Tamerlane, in his capital Samarkand. Its ribbed turquoise dome, about 15 metres across, crowns an octagonal building faced with blue, pale blue and white tiles set into terracotta brick, forming geometric patterns and bands of monumental script. Few buildings of the Islamic world had such a long reach: the Timurid tomb is regarded as a forerunner of the great Mughal mausoleums built by Timur's descendants in India, from Humayun's Tomb in Delhi to the Taj Mahal.

The mausoleum was begun in 1403 for Muhammad Sultan, Timur's grandson and chosen heir, who died suddenly on campaign. Timur had prepared a more modest tomb for himself in his home town of Shahrisabz, but when he died in 1405 on his way to invade China, the mountain passes to Shahrisabz were blocked by snow, and he was buried here in the still-unfinished building. His grandson Ulugh Beg, the astronomer-prince, completed the work and turned it into the family crypt of the dynasty. Timur lies here with his sons Shah Rukh and Miran Shah, his grandsons Muhammad Sultan and Ulugh Beg, and his revered teacher Mir Sayyid Baraka. The architect was Muhammad ibn Mahmud of Isfahan.

Inside, a high chamber glows with gilding: the lower walls are panelled in onyx, above them runs a marble stalactite cornice, and the arches and inner dome are covered with raised, gilded and painted papier-mâché ornament. The carved tombstones in the chamber only mark the graves, which lie in a crypt directly below. Over Timur's grave Ulugh Beg placed a single block of very dark green jade. In June 1941 a Soviet team led by the anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov opened the tomb and reconstructed Timur's face from his skull, confirming that he had walked with a pronounced limp; within days Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and a legend of a curse has clung to the tomb ever since. Timur was reburied with Islamic rites in December 1942. Much of the tilework was restored from the 1950s onwards.

Getting there

Gur-e Amir is in the historic centre of Samarkand, close to the city centre, alongside the smaller Rukhobod and Aksaray mausoleums. Samarkand International Airport (SKD) is about 6 km away.