Gallery
Description
Property Name: Gur-i Amir Complex
Inventory No: 998-66-4
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2007-10-23
Country (State party): Uzbekistan
Province : Samarkand
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 39° 38′ 54.51″ N
66° 58′ 8.34″ E
Historic Period: Timurid
Year of Construction: 1404
Style: Timurid
Original Use: Complex
Current Use: Mosque, Museum
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The complex contains the tombs of Timur, his sons and grandsons. It is a unique monument of town planning and architecture of Timur period and is famous for its simplicity of construction and for its solid monumentality of appearance.
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
The mausoleums, once almost totally destroyed, have been reconstructed with domes and today the ensemble is in a satisfactory condition. Only after the Second World War extensive restoration work in Gur-Emir has begun. In the 1950s the dome, main portal, and minarets were refurbished. The resurgence of the interest in Tamerlane after the founding of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1991 intensified the care of his places of worship.
References
Gippenreyter, V. Srednyaya Aziya:arkhitekturnıe pamyatniki IX-XIX vekov, Planeta, Moskva, 1987
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, GarnetPublishing,Reading, 1996.
Pugachenkova, G.A. A Museum In the Open, Gafur Gulyam Literature and Art Publishing, Tashkent, 1981)
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/