Ulugbek Madrasah (Samarkand)

Since the time of Amir Timur, Registan has been the main market square and public center of medieval Samarkand. There were numerous trading shops, caravanserais and covered shopping arcades (tims), the largest of which was Tim Tilpak-furushon. Under the rule of the grandson of Timur Ulugbek, the appearance of the square begins to gradually change. Ulugbek begins the restructuring of Registan with the construction of the largest Islamic university in Central Asia .

The start date for the construction of the madrasah on Registan Square is not exactly known. An inscription in the niche of the entrance portal literally reads: “Year 820 (1417). Let it be known: this building is the most excellent and highest of the places in the world, the most perfect of buildings in art and work ... ” This allows us to conclude that in 1417 the building of the madrasah was already under construction. At the highest construction rates, the construction of such structures in Maverannahr took at least 5-6 years ^[1] . Given that the main work was completed in 1420, it can be assumed that construction began no later than 1415. The author of the madrasah project is usually considered the court architect of the emir Shahrukh Kavamaddin Sherazi, but the medieval historian Vasifi, a contemporary of Ulugbek, calls Kamaleddin Muhandis, a student of Kazi-zade ar-Rumi , the architect.

Soon after the construction of the Ulugbek Madrasah, it became one of the most prestigious universities of the Muslim East of the 15th century. According to legend, the famous poet, scientist and philosopher Abdurahman Jami studied here. His audience was Sheikh Tariqa Naqshbandi Khoja Ahrar and poet Alisher Navoi . The educational institution delivered lectures on mathematics, geometry, logic, natural sciences, theology, codes of doctrines about man and the world soul. They were read by such famous scientists as Kazi-zade ar-Rumi, Jamsheed Giyas ad-Din Al-Kashi , Al-Kushchi , as well as Ulugbek himself. The first mudarris (rector) of the university was appointed Maulana Muhammad Khawafi - a wandering dervish , a commoner by origin, who had deep scientific knowledge.

In 1533, the Uzbek khan Ubaidulla came to power in Maverannahr, who soon transferred the capital of his state to Bukhara . Having lost the status of the capital, Samarkand is gradually declining. However, Ulugbek madrasah continues to maintain the status of one of the best educational institutions in Central Asia. During the reign of Yalangtush Bahadur , which carried out a radical reconstruction of the Registan Square, the building of the madrasah was overhauled. It was his graceful proportions that formed the basis of the new madrasah built by the specific ruler of Samarkand, later called Sherdor . During the feudal wars and unrest that accompanied the reign of the last Bukhara khan from the Ashtarkhanid dynasty Abulfeiz , the appearance of the Ulugbek madrasah was greatly corrupted. According to the 18th century Samarkand historian Abu Tahir, the Khoji of Bukhara ordered the demolition of the second floor of the building out of fear that rebels might bombard his residence from the high walls of the madrasah.

In the first half of the XIX century, Ulugbek madrasah was destroyed by strong earthquakes (1817, 1818) ^[2] . Describing the state of construction with the words of the character of his work, the famous French writer Jules Verne wrote:

Registan Square is a beautiful quadrangle ... Well-preserved ruins of three “madrassas” rise up on three sides of the square, where the “mullahs” gave children a religious education. The declined minarets seem to be about to fall, but never fall, fortunately for their enamel lining.

- J. Verne Clodius Bombarnacus Notebook of a reporter about the opening of the Trans-Asian Highway (From Russia to Beijing)

The 1897 earthquake turned “well-preserved ruins” into ruins.

Restoration of Ulugbek madrasah began in the 20s of the XX century and lasted more than seventy years. At the first stage, urgent work was carried out to preserve the surviving fragments of the building. In 1932, according to the project of architects V. G. Shukhov and M. F. Mauer ^[3] , a unique operation was carried out to straighten the northeastern minaret, which resonated throughout the world. The main restoration work was carried out in the 50s and 60s of the XX century: the ground level was lowered by 2 meters, the portal was restored, the building's decoration elements were restored. In 1965, engineers E.M. Handel and E.O. Nelle straightened the southeast minaret. In the 1990s, the second floor of the hujras was rebuilt. Currently, of the original elements of the building, there are no external domes above corner audiences and a southwestern minaret. The northwestern minaret has been partially preserved.

Ulugbek Madrasah was built according to the Muslim canon in full accordance with the requirements of its era. It is a classic example of a religious educational institution in Central Asia and the Middle East .

The madrasah is a rectangular construction with a total area of ​​81x56 meters. Its main eastern facade faces Registan Square. The main element of the main facade is a powerful entrance portal - peshtak . In the depths of the portal there are three entrances, of which the central one, framed by an exaggeratedly large lancet arch, is closed with openwork panjara. The other two entrances are also decorated with lancet arches, but smaller. Above each of them there is one loggia overlooking the area of hujras . In the corners of the madrasah once stood four minarets 33 meters high, of which only the eastern ones were completely preserved. In the corners of the building are spacious audiences (darskhans), once covered by double domes. A square four-yard courtyard with an area of ​​30x30 meters is paved with large stone slabs and framed by two floors of one-room and two-room hujras. Aivans are located on the axes of the building and decorated with portals. Each aivan divides the hujras in half so that on each side of it there are six hujras on two floors. Northern and southern aivans are deaf and have previously served as summer audiences. The entrance to the winter mosque occupying the entire central part of the western wing is located in western aivan.

The entire set of materials available at that time was used to decorate the madrasah: glazed bricks, carved mosaic mosaic , majolica , carved marble . The combination of white, blue, blue and manganese-black tiles with terracotta facing bricks creates all the wealth of geometric, floral and epigraphic patterns. The portals of the madrassahs and tympans of the arches of the hujras are decorated with mosaics of multi-colored kashin. The main portal is especially luxurious. Mosaic stars on his tympanum form a pattern symbolizing the starry sky, and the pylons are decorated with mosaic panels with geometric patterns. The architectural merits of Ulugbek madrasah, emphasized by highly artistic decorative design, put it on a par with other masterpieces of Muslim medieval architecture.

• Ulugbek Madrasah (Bukhara)
• Ulugbek Madrasah (Gijduvan)

• Registan - the heart of the city of leopards
• Registan - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .

• Samarkad. Open Air Museum .. - Tashkent: Publishing House of Literature and Art named after Gafur Gulyam, 1986. - S. 99-117. - 248 p.
• Monuments of art of the Soviet Union. Middle Asia. Guidebook. / Text writer and compiler G.A. Pugachenkova . - M .: Art , 1983 .-- S. 392. - 428 p.

• Registan - the heart of the city of leopards
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• Article by Mikhail Masson “The Tooth of Time”, the earthquake, and especially the man himself on the website of the Orthodox Church in Central Asia
• Photos of S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
• Photos from the site samarkand-foto.ru (Samarkand in photos): 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
• Registan Square. Ancient witnesses of the history of Samarkand (Neopr.) . Date of treatment September 23, 2012. Archived October 19, 2012.
• Reference on architecture and design. Ulugbek Madrasah (neopr.) . Date of treatment September 23, 2012. Archived October 19, 2012.
• Portal of the city of Samarkand (neopr.) . Date of treatment December 17, 2012. Archived December 19, 2012.