Just north of the centre, Timur’s summer palace has as much grandeur per square centimetre as anything in Samarkand. There’s actually nothing left of it except bits of the gigantic, 38m-high pishtak, covered with gorgeous, unrestored filigree-like mosaics. This crumbling relic, blending seamlessly with everyday life, will thrill critics of Samarkand’s zealous restoration efforts: indeed, coming here will give you some idea of how Samarkand would have looked a century ago.
Ak-Saray was probably Timur’s most ambitious project – work began in 1380 and took some 24 years to complete. Its creation followed a successful campaign in Khorezm and the ‘import’ of many of its finest artisans. It’s well worth climbing to the top of the pishtak to truly appreciate its height and imagine what the rest of the palace was like, in size and glory. The arch was a staggering 22.5m wide, and collapsed 200 years ago.
A new statue of Amir Timur stands in what was the palace centre. It’s not uncommon to see 10 weddings at a time posing here for photos at weekends, creating quite a mob scene. Ak-Saray has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2000.
