City of blue domes
Samarkand
Ribbed turquoise domes and tiled gateways in every shade of blue rise over an old Silk Road capital.
Why Samarkand is timurid turquoise
Samarkand, in today's Uzbekistan, was made the capital of the conqueror Timur in the late 14th century. He and his heirs brought craftsmen from across their empire and covered mosques, colleges and tombs in glazed tile. The Registan is a square framed by three great madrasas, or religious colleges, built between the 15th and 17th centuries. Their tall gateways are patterned in turquoise, cobalt blue, white and gold. Timur's own tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, has a ribbed turquoise dome. The lane of tombs called Shah-i-Zinda shows the tile work at its finest. Blue is often linked here with sky and water, precious in a dry land. Much was restored in the 20th century.
Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.
Colours tied to Samarkand
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Samarkand" on Wikipedia. If you know Samarkand and we have it wrong, tell us.
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All colour cities
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🇺🇿 Mud walls and a turquoise towerKhivaA walled desert town where a short, fat minaret wrapped in blue-green tile stands over clay-coloured lanes.
🇮🇳 City of painted temple towersMaduraiThe towers of the Meenakshi temple carry thousands of painted figures; jasmine sellers add white below.
🇮🇷 Half the world, in turquoiseIsfahanSafavid mosques around a vast square are covered inside and out with turquoise and deep blue tiles.
🇪🇹 The painted walled cityHararBehind old stone walls, the alleys and house fronts of this Ethiopian city are painted in bright pastels.
🇬🇧 A pastel Italian fantasy in WalesPortmeirionA holiday village built by one architect over fifty years, in the colours of the Italian Riviera.Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Madurai In: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bukhara Uz: Euyasik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khiva Uz: Doron, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Isfahan Ir: Pedram forouzanfar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Harar Et: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, source
- Portmeirion Gb: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, source