Samarqand or Samarkand is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Samarqand is the capital of Samarqand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements Kimyogarlar, Farhod and Khishrav. With 551,700 inhabitants (2021), it is the second-largest city of Uzbekistan. Most of the inhabitants of the city are native speakers of the Tajik dialect of the Persian language, although Uzbek is spoken as a second language.
The Registan was the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand of the Timurid Empire, now in Uzbekistan. The name Rēgistan (ریگستان) means "sandy place" or "desert" in Persian.
Shahrisabz is a district-level city in Qashqadaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan. The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has selected Shakhrisabz as its tourism capital for 2024.
Tourist activities in Uzbekistan range from outdoor activities, such as rock-climbing, to exploration of its archeological and religious history. The Statistical Internet Survey conducted between May 7 and August 27, 2008, found that the majority of those surveyed (39%) visit Uzbekistan due interest in its architectural and historical sites. The next-largest group (24%) visited Uzbekistan to observe its culture, way of life, and customs.
The Afrasiab murals, also called the Paintings of the Ambassadors, is a rare example of Sogdian art. It was discovered in 1965 when the local authorities decided to construct a road in the middle of Afrāsiāb mound, the old site of pre-Mongol Samarkand. It is now preserved in a special museum on the Afrāsiāb mound.
Akhsikath is an archeological site located in the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan. A fortified city along the Syr Darya, it lies 22km to the southwest of Namangan and covers an area of 30 hectares. The oldest parts of Akhsikath date from the 3rd century BC, but it peaked in size and importance during the 9th-12th centuries AD. Later, the city played a key role in the life of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, whose father ruled Fergana from Akhsikath. The city is described in the Baburnama.
Afrasiyab ,(Persian: افراسيابafrāsiyāb) is an ancient site in Northern Samarkand, present day Uzbekistan, that was occupied from c. 500 BC to 1220 AD prior to the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. The oldest layers date from the middle of the first millennium BC. Today, it is a hilly grass mound located near the Bibi Khanaum Mosque. Excavations uncovered the now famous Afrasiab frescoes exposed in the Afrasiab Museum of Samarkand, located next to the archaeological site.
Afrasiyab, Afrasiab, Afrosiyab, or Afrosiyob may refer to:
The Izmir Archaeology Museum is an archeology museum in Izmir, Turkey, containing a number of artifacts from around the Gulf of Izmir. Most of the artifacts, which include busts, statues, statuettes, tools, and various eating and cooking utensils, come from the Bronze Age, or from the Greek and Roman periods.
Central Asian art is visual art created in Central Asia, in areas corresponding to modern Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of modern Mongolia, China and Russia. The art of ancient and medieval Central Asia reflects the rich history of this vast area, home to a huge variety of peoples, religions and ways of life. The artistic remains of the region show a remarkable combinations of influences that exemplify the multicultural nature of Central Asian society. The Silk Road transmission of art, Scythian art, Greco-Buddhist art, Serindian art and more recently Persianate culture, are all part of this complicated history.
The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is a museum of archaeology located on the University of Michigan central campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. The museum is a unit of the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. It has a collection of more than 100,000 ancient and medieval artifacts from the civilizations of the Mediterranean and the Near East. In addition to displaying its permanent and special exhibitions, the museum sponsors research and fieldwork and conducts educational programs for the public and for schoolchildren. The museum also houses the University of Michigan Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology.
Kırklareli Museum is a national museum in Kırklareli, Turkey, exhibiting natural history specimens, ethnographical items related to the region's history of cultural life, and archaeological artifacts found in and around the city. The director of the museum is Derya Balkan.
The music of Central Asia and that of China exerted influence back and forth from the Tang dynasty onwards.
Ganja State History-Ethnography Museum named after Nizami Ganjavi is the largest museum in Ganja,
Margarita Ivanovna Filanovich is a Soviet historian, archaeologist, and leader of a Tashkent archaeological expedition.
The Archaeological Museum of Termez is a museum in the city of Termez, modern Uzbekistan. The artifacts contained in the museum are mainly linked to the Graeco-Bactrian and Kushan periods. Some artifacts, such as the seated Buddha under the Bodhi tree or head of the Kushan prince are actually copies, the original of which are located in the History Museum of Tashkent and in the Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg.
Kafir-kala is an ancient fortress 12 kilometers south of the city center of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, protecting the southern border of the Samarkand oasis. It consists in a central citadel built in mud-bricks and measuring 75 × 75 meters at its base has six towers and is surrounded by a moat, still visible today. Living quarters were located outside the citadel.
The State Museum of Culture History of Uzbekistan is a museum of history and culture in Samarkand.
Varkhuman, also Vargoman was an Ikhshid (King) of Sogdia, residing in the city of Samarkand in the 7th century CE. He succeeded King Shishpin. He is known from the Afrasiab murals of Afrasiyab in Samarkand, where is seen being visited by embassies from numerous countries, including China. There is also an inscription in the murals directly mentioning him. His name is also known from Chinese histories.
The Hazrat Khizr Mosque is a historical monument in Samarkand ; associated with the name of the legendary immortal prophet Hazrat Khizr. The building was erected on the site of an ancient mosque. The monument is located opposite the Shah-i-Zinda complex on a hill. In 2018, the mausoleum of the First President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov was opened in the territory of the mosque.
