Tamerlane: From Shahrisabz to Samarkand

Timur's family lies in this long street of tombs. The middle group of mausoleums is linked with the names of his relatives and military and clergy aristocracy. Look for the crypt of Turkan Ago, Timur's niece, built in 1372, and the mausoleum opposite it of Shirin Bika Aga, his sister. The name means "the Living King", from a legend about Qutham ibn Abbas, said to be buried here. The ensemble grew over eight centuries and now includes more than twenty buildings.

Visitor guidance: Visit in Samarkand and walk up the stairway through the lower, middle and upper groups of tombs.

Timur was born near Kesh, today's Shahrisabz in Uzbekistan, and he wanted it, not Samarkand, as the capital of his empire. So he built a mighty palace there. Construction began in 1380 and lasted 24 years, until 1404, just before his death. What remains are the pylons of the former portal, 38 metres high, faced with blue glazed bricks, with an inscription that read "God prolong the Sultan's days." A colossal statue of Timur now stands on the original palace site.

Visitor guidance: Ruins stand in a park near the old north gate of Shahrisabz, with the Timur statue beside them.

In 1389 Timur commissioned a new mausoleum for Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, in what is now southern Kazakhstan. He imported builders from cities he had laid waste: mosaic-workers from Shiraz, stonemasons and stucco-workers from Isfahan. The work stopped when Timur died, so the building is unfinished, yet it is one of the best-preserved of all Timurid constructions. Its creation marked the beginning of the Timurid architectural style, copied across the empire.

Visitor guidance: In the city of Turkestan, southern Kazakhstan.

On 28 July 1402 Timur met the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I on the Çubuk plain near Ankara. Timur had diverted Çubuk creek, the main water supply of both armies, to a reservoir near the town of Çubuk, leaving the Ottomans without water. It was a major victory for Timur. Afterwards he besieged and took the city of Smyrna. For the Ottoman state the defeat set off a civil war among Bayezid's sons that lasted 11 years.

Location precision: The battle is placed on the Çubuk plain near Ankara; the pin marks the town of Çubuk, not the exact field.

After his Indian campaign in 1399, Timur decided to build a gigantic mosque in his new capital. When he returned from campaign in 1404 it was almost complete, but he was unhappy and ordered changes, especially to the main dome. Soon the first bricks began to fall from the huge dome over the mihrab. Timur named it after his wife, Saray Mulk Khanum. The inner arch of the portal collapsed in an earthquake in 1897; major parts were restored in the Soviet era.

Visitor guidance: In Samarkand; much of what stands today was restored in the Soviet era.

In 1404 Timur ordered a mausoleum for his heir Muhammad Sultan, and it became the family crypt. Timur died in 1405 at Otrar while on campaign against China. He had wished to be buried in Shahrisabz, but his body was taken to Samarkand and buried here. On 20 June 1941 Soviet archaeologist Mikhail Gerasimov opened the tomb. Legend says it carried the warning "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." Timur was reburied with Islamic rites on 20 December 1942.

Visitor guidance: Visit in Samarkand.