Gallery
Description
Property Name: Shakh-i Zinda Complex
Inventory No: 998-66-1
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2007-10-23
Country (State party): Uzbekistan
Province: Samarkand
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 39° 39′ 42.23″ N
66° 59′ 15.8″ E
Historic Period: Timurid
Year of Construction: 14th, 15th century
Style: Timurid
Original Use: Mausoleum
Current Use: Mausoleum
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The Shah-i Zinda Complex is composed of magnificent series of mosques, madrasahs, and mausoleums on the southern edge of Afrosiab and represents a unique museum of glazed décor of the 11th to the 19th century.
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 complex first restored between 1360 and 1434. Throughout the year’s limited repairs have been carried out in Shakhi-Zinda, which has preserved its historic authenticity. In 2006 an extensive restoration went under the site and today it is in a well-preserved condition
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, Garnet Publishing, Reading, 1996.
Pugachenkova, G.A. A Museum In the Open, Gafur Gulyam Literature and Art Publishing, Tashkent, 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/