Wat Kudee Dao วัดกุฏีดาว
Wat Kudee Dao or the Monastery of the Star Dormitory is located off the city island in
the northeastern sector of the city. It is also spelled Wat Kudi Dao.
Wat Kudee Dao is located in area known as Ayodaya. It is widely believed that an ancient
Dvaravati settlement existed in this area prior to King U-Thong’s arrival in 1351.
Recent excavations suggest that Wat Kudee Dao was built on the foundation of earlier buildings that predated the foundations of Ayutthaya. However, Royal Chronicles fail to mention it until King Thai Sa’s reign. The first report about this monastery is that the younger brother of King Thai Sa went out to be ordained as a monk at the Monastery of the Star Dormitory.
The restorations at Wat Kudee Dao began in 1711 and were completed in 1715. Royal Chronicles report that, when the renovations at Wat Kudee Dao were finished, a seven-day festival was held to celebrate its completion. Holy acts of merit were ...
Registan Square stands at the heart of Samarkand as one of the most complete architectural ensembles in the Islamic world. The name means Sandy Place in Persian, a reminder that this open plaza once served as the commercial and civic center of the medieval city. Framed on three sides by monumental madrasas, the square forms a vast outdoor room of turquoise domes, soaring portals, and intricate tilework.
On the western side rises the Ulugh Beg Madrasa, built between 1417 and 1420 by the astronomer-king Ulugh Beg, grandson of Timur. Organized around a central courtyard with four iwans, student cells, and lecture halls, its high portal is covered in refined geometric star patterns in deep blues and gold. Four slender minarets mark the corners. This was a leading center of learning where theology, mathematics, and astronomy were taught side by side.
Facing it is the Sher-Dor Madrasa, constructed between 1619 and 1636 by the governor Yalangtush Bahadur as a deliberate mirror of the earlier building. ...
The Bibi-Khanym Mosque (Bibi Khanum, Bibi Khanom or similar variants) stands in the heart of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, as one of the grandest architectural achievements of the Timurid Renaissance and, in its day, among the largest and most ambitious mosques in the Islamic world.
Construction began in the spring of 1399, specifically on 7 May according to contemporary accounts, shortly after Timur (Tamerlane) returned from his victorious campaign in India. He ordered the building of a monumental congregational Friday mosque for his capital, drawing on the vast spoils of war, including the labour of craftsmen from Persia, Azerbaijan, India and elsewhere, as well as nearly a hundred war elephants pressed into service to haul materials.
The mosque is named after his chief wife, Saray Mulk Khanum (popularly known as Bibi Khanym), the daughter of a Chagatai khan. A madrasa and mausoleum associated with her stood nearby across the road.
The complex formed a vast rectangle measuring roughly 167 meters by 109 meters,...
Siyob Bazaar, also known as Siab or Siab Bazaar, is the largest and oldest market in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, covering more than seven hectares in the heart of the old city. Its name derives from the historic Siyob district and the nearby Siyob River, a Persian and Tajik term meaning “black water” or “black river.”
The market sits directly adjacent to the monumental Bibi-Khanym Mosque and lies within easy reach of the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis and Registan Square, making it a natural extension of any visit to the city’s great Timurid landmarks.
Trade has taken place on or near this site for centuries, intertwined with Samarkand’s role as a major Silk Road crossroads. Some accounts place the beginnings of organized commerce here as early as the early medieval period, with references stretching back to the ninth century and local tradition claiming even older roots tied to caravan stops and watering places along the river.
The market flourished during the Timurid era of the fourteenth and ...
