Three madrasas facing each other across a square in Samarkand, and the name means place of sand. The Ulugh Beg madrasa of 1417 to 1420 is the one that matters most: Ulugh Beg was a Timurid prince who was also a serious astronomer, he lectured here himself, and the star catalogue his observatory produced was the best in the world for two centuries. The Sherdor of 1619 to 1636 carries tigers with rising suns on their backs across its facade, which is a striking thing to find on an Islamic building and gives it its name. The Tilya-Kori of 1646 to 1660 is a college and a mosque together, gilded inside. Turquoise domes, huge iwans, tile to the top. UNESCO listed Samarkand in 2001.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
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