Ulugh Beg Madrasah

The oldest building on the Registan was raised in 1417–1420 under Ulugh Beg, grandson of Timur, a ruler and astronomer who lectured here himself. Students were taught not only theology but also mathematics, geometry, logic and astronomy, and the madrasah is linked with the names of major scholars of the day — Qazizada al-Rumi, al-Kashi and al-Qushji. The tall pointed portal is set with mosaic in geometric and star patterns, four minarets about thirty-three metres high rise at the corners, and behind the portal opens a square courtyard with four iwans and some fifty hujras, where more than a hundred students lived. Ulugh Beg himself was murdered in 1449 on his son's orders, his observatory on the Kuhak hill a few kilometres from here was destroyed, and its foundations were found only in 1908. The earthquakes of 1817 and 1897 reduced the building almost to ruins: the second tier of hujras collapsed and was rebuilt only in the 1990s, and some of the minarets were lost. In January 1932 the leaning north-eastern minaret was straightened to a design by the engineer Shukhov — its top had shifted almost two metres to one side.

On the map