FOUR SAMARKANDS

The urban evolution of Samarkand is clearly inscribed in its layered topography. Each phase of its development has left a distinct architectural and spatial imprint on the city’s landscape.

It begins with Afrasiab, ancient Maracanda, the original settlement founded in the first millennium BCE, which thrived as a major center of Sogdian civilization and Silk Road exchange. After its destruction by the Mongols in the 13th century, the city’s political and symbolic heart shifted southwest.

In the 14th century, under Tamerlane (Timur) and his successors, Samarkand was reborn as a grand imperial capital. Majestic monuments, religious schools (madrasas), and bustling markets transformed the city into a jewel of the Timurid Renaissance, shaping what we now recognize as the medieval core.

Following the Russian conquest in 1868, a new urban layer emerged: the Tsarist city, marked by wide boulevards, administrative buildings, and railway infrastructure. This modernizing impulse was expanded further under the Soviet period, which introduced industrial zones, collective housing, and centralized planning—often cutting across or replacing earlier structures. 

Today’s Samarkand is the result of these overlapping legacies. Its urban fabric tells a continuous story—from ancient stronghold to imperial capital, colonial outpost, socialist experiment, and contemporary Central Asian metropolis.

 

Uzbek version

To‘rt Samarqand
Samarqandning asrlar davomida rivojlanib borgan shaharsozlik tarixi uning turli topografik xususiyatlari orqali aniq ko'zga tashlanadi va bir-biridan farqlanadi:

  1. qadimiy Maroqand aholi manzili (Afrosiyob, mil. avv. VII asrdan milodiy 1220 yilgacha);
  2. Temuriylar poytaxti va o'rta asr shahri (XIV asrdan XIX asr o'rtalarigacha);
  3. Chor Rossiyasi (1868 y.) va Sovet davri shahri;
  4. zamonaviy Samarqand.

(© UIAP, negiz xarita: GOOGLE sun’iy yo‘ldosh tasviri, 2023)

 

Russian version

Четыре Самарканда
Градостроительное развитие Самарканда на протяжении веков чётко прослеживается и различается по своим топографическим особенностям:

  1. ранее поселение Мараканда (Афрасиаб, c VII века до н.э. до 1220 год н.э.);
  2. столица Тимуридов и средневековый город (с XIV до середины XIX века);
  3. царский город (1868 г.) и советский город (1991 г.);
  4. современный Самарканд

(© UIAP, базовая карта: спутниковое изображение GOOGLE, 2023)

Four Samarkands

Four Samarkands