Styles of Madrasas in the Registan Square in Samarkand during (9th - 11th A.H / 15th - 17th A.D) centuries An Archaeological &Architectural study

Abstract

Registan Square is regarded as one of the most beautiful remains of the Timurid State and its rulers who succeeded in the city. Prince Timur (771 - 807 AH / 1369 - 1405 AD) established it as a complex for Madrasas to spread science and culture and elevate the standard of the people in the city, after being merely a wide space where people gathered to listen to royal statements and witness the implementation of public judgments. Although Samarkand includes a number of Madrasas that are considered educational institutions in addition to being unique historical architectural monuments, there is little left of these Madrasas. Such few remains are a model of the architectural styles of Madrasas in Central Asia, which is the dominant Ioanian style in the region. Although these Madrasas were designed according to the Ioanian style prevailing in the architecture of Islamic Madrasas in general, they were treated in a special local way, granting them a distinct architectural and artistic trait, not only in Central Asia, but also in the architecture of Islamic Madrasas as a whole.Registan became the central square of Samarkand in the (9th AH/ 14th AD) century. square was used as commercial and craft center and Ulugbeg made it spiritual centre. Ulugbeg constructed a majestic madrasa and Sufi khanaka with a huge dome. By the (11th AH / 17th AD) century old buildings of Registan had been in collapse and the governor of Samarkand Yilnkush Bahadur built Shirdar Madrasa instead of Ulugbeg's khanaka and later Tila Carrey Madrasa.

Keywords

• samarkand
• registan
• madrasa
• entrance
• mihrab