Registan- The Islamic Bible Colleges in 15th Century!

You probably saw the pictures of Registan before choosing to visit Uzbekistan. It’s so ancient, unique, and impressive in arts. And just like there are monasteries in Christian countries, Registan was made as a place to study in a Muslim country.

Registan consists of three madrasahs (In Arabic darasah means to study, and when you add a ‘m’ before a verb, then it becomes the place of doing that activity) and a huge plaza.

Well, a place to study means a Bible college as at that time religious study was the most important curriculum, and Quran was the textbook. (Although Ulugh Beg also taught science there.)

These three colleges were built in different times. The one on the left is called The Ulugh Beg Madrasah.

The Ulugh Beg Madrasah (Persian: مدرسه الغ بیگ‎) was one of the best clergy universities of the Muslim Orient in the 15th Century CE. Abdul-Rahman Jami, the great Persian poet, scholar, mystic, scientist and philosopher studied at the madrasah. Ulugh Beg himself gave lectures there. During Ulugh Beg’s government the madrasah was a centre of secular science. (Wikipedia)

See the art! I saw from a documentary that these patterns (top left and bottom left of the picture below) actually show ‘allah’. And that’s pretty impressive as we don’t write Jesus on the walls of churches. Maybe we should do it too.

When you walk into the Madrasah, it’s like going back to 15th century.

All these cells were dorms. It’s a really nice college!

And this must be Ulugh Beg, the grandson of Timur, an astronomer, mathematician and sultan.

His real name was Mīrzā Mohammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrokh. Ulugh Beg was also notable for his work in astronomy-related mathematics, such as trigonometry and spherical geometry. He built the great Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand between 1424 and 1429. It was considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world at the time and the largest in Central Asia. He built the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417–1420) in Samarkand and Bukhara, transforming the cities into cultural centers of learning in Central Asia. He was also a mathematics genius of the 15th century — albeit his mental aptitude was perseverance rather than any unusual endowment of intellect. His observatory is situated in Samarkand which is in Uzbekistan. He ruled Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, southern Kazakhstan and most of Afghanistan for almost half a century from 1411 to 1449. (Wikipedia)

Opposite to The Ulugh Beg Madrasah is Sher-Dor Madrasah. It was built almost 200 years after the first Madrasah.

In the 17th century the ruler of Samarkand, Yalangtush Bakhodur, ordered the construction of the Sher-Dor (Persian: شیردار‎) and Tillya-Kori (Persian: طلاکاری‎) madrasahs. The tiger mosaics on the face of each madrassa are interesting, in that they flout the ban in Islam of the depiction of living beings on religious buildings. (Wikipedia)

The image of the face of human and tiger isn’t allowed to show here. But somehow this building had it.

Inside the compound it looked a bit more ancient. The cobblestone floor was interesting.

The final building, between the two Madrasahs lies the Tilya-Kori Madrasah. It was built shortly after the completion of the second Madrasah (with weird human face on tiger).

Ten years later the Tilya-Kori (Persian: طلاکاری‎, meaning “Gilded”) Madrasah was built. It was not only a residential college for students, but also played the role of grand masjid (mosque). It has a two-storied main facade and a vast courtyard fringed by dormitory cells, with four galleries along the axes. The mosque building is situated in the western section of the courtyard. The main hall of the mosque is abundantly gilded. (Wikipedia)

It’s definitely the fanciest part of Registan.  It was so heavily gilded. It definitely reminded of the Sheikh Zayid Mosque! Imagine how wealthy Timurid Empire was!

So, I forgot how expensive the ticket was. I felt it was not expensive though comparing how unique this place is. Well, my friend and I spent about 2 hours here. It’s not big in today’s standard, but big for 15th century for sure.

I really enjoyed visiting Samarkand, and I’d recommend this place to everyone despite your religious background!