Registan

Built around 1400 by the Persian architects by the order of the fierce and powerful Timur Lenk, and his successors, the Registan is a historical site in the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The name Registan (ریگستان) is Persian and means "The place of Sand," - it was strewn on the ground to soak up the blood from the public executions that were held there until early in the 20th century. The Registan is where Tamerlane stuck his victims’ heads on spikes, and is where people gathered to hear royal proclamations, heralded by blasts on enormous copper pipes called dzharchis.

The most famous part of the area is Timur Lenk's mausoleum, surmounted by a ribbed dome and faced with multicolored tiles; the conqueror's tomb was opened in 1941. Other buildings include the Bibi Khan Mosque, with its turquoise cupola, erected by Timur Lenk to the memory of his favorite wife; several other magnificent mosques; the mausoleums of the Timurid cemetery (Shah-i-Zinda); and the ruins of the Gurkhani Zij, the observatory built by Timur's grandson, Ulugh Beg in 1428.

It was medieval Samarkand’s commercial center and the plaza was probably a wall to wall market. During the Soviet era, the site was restored, which included digging down 3 meters to its original level to expose the buildings’ full height.