Gallery
Description
Property Name: Observatory of Ulugbeg
Inventory No: 998-66-5
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2007-10-23
Country (State party): Uzbekistan
Province: Samarkand
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 39° 39′ 45″ N
66° 59′ 15″ E
Historic Period: Timurid
Year of Construction: 1420
Style: Timurid
Original Use: Observatory
Current Use: Museum
Architect: Ulug Beg
Significance
The building is one of the earliest Islamic astronomical observatories. This three-storey building incorporates a set of astronomical instruments.
Selection Criteria
i. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
In 1450 after Ulug Beg’s death, the observatory rapidly waned and by the nineteenth century, there was no trace left to identify its location. In 1908, V. Vyatkin discovered the remains of a round wall and part of the main instrument on the basis of seventeenth century manuscripts. In 1941, a second major excavation held on and produced the hypothetical reconstructions of the observatory.
References
Gombos, Károly. The Pearls of Uzbekistan: Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, Corvina Press, Budapest, 1976.
Lawton, John, Samarkand and Bukhara, Tauris Parke Books, London, 1991.
Naumkin, Vitali. Samarkand, Garnet Publishing, Reading, 1996.
Pugachenkova, G.A. Chefs d’oeuvre d’architecture de l’Asie Centrale, UNESCO, Paris, 1981
Samarkand: A Museum in the Open, İzdatel’stvo Literaturi i İsku, Tashkent, 1986.
Umniakov, I. I., Aleskerov, Y. Samarkand: a guide book, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972.
UNESCO Web Site: http://whc.unesco.org/
Archnet Web Site: http://archnet.org/
Organization of World Heritage Cities Web Site: http://www.ovpm.org/
University of Washington Web Sİte: http://www.washington.edu/