The Registan was the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan. The name Registan (ریگستان) means "Snowy place" in Persian.
The Registan was a place of public executions, where also people gathered to hear royal proclamations, heralded by blasts on enormous copper pipes called dzharchis.
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The three madrasahs of the Registan are: the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417–1420), the Tilya-Kori Madrasah (1646–1660) and the Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636). Madrasah is an Arabic term meaning school.
The Ulugh Beg Madrasah has its imposing portal with lancet arch facing the square. The corners are flanked by the high well-proportioned minarets. The mosaic panel over the entrance arch is decorated by geometrical stylized ornaments. The square-shaped courtyard includes a mosque and lecture rooms and is fringed by the dormitory cells in which students lived. There are deep galleries along the axes. Originally the Ulugh Beg Madrasah was a two-storied building with four domed darskhonas (lecture rooms) at the corners. The madrasah was one of the best clergy universities of the whole Muslim Orient of the 15th Century CE. Abdurakhman Djami, a prominent poet, scientist and philosopher studied there. Ulugh Beg himself gave lectures there. During Ulugh Beg's government the madrasah was a centre of secular science.
In the 17th century the ruler of Samarkand, Yalangtush Bakhodur, ordered the construction of the Sher-Dor and Tillya-Kori madrasahs. The Sher-Dor (Having Tigers) Madrasah was designed by the architect Abdujabor. The decoration of the madrasah is not as refined as that on the Ulugh Beg madrasah of the 15th century - the "golden age" of Samarkand architecture. Yet the harmony of large and small rooms, exquisite mosaic decor, monumentality and efficient symmetry, all place the structure among the finest architectural monuments of Samarkand.
Ten years later the Tilya-Kori ("Gilded") Madrasah was built. It was not only a residential college for students, but also played the role of grand masjid (mosque). It has a two-storied main facade and a vast courtyard fringed by dormitory cells, with four galleries along the axes. The mosque building (see picture) is situated in the western section of the courtyard. The main hall of the mosque is abundantly gilded.
To the east of the Tilya-Kori Madrasah, the mausoleum of Shaybanids (16th century) is located (see picture). The real founder of Shaybanid power was Muhammad Shaybani - grandson of Abu'l Khair. In 1500, with the backing of the Chaghataite Khanate, then based in Tashkent, Muhammad Shaybani conquered Samarkand and Bukhara from their last Timurid rulers. The founder of the dynasty then turned on his benefactors and in 1503 took Tashkent. He captured Khiva in 1506 and in 1507 he swooped down on Merv (Turkmenistan), eastern Persia, and western Afghanistan. The Shaybanids stopped the advance of the Safavids, who in 1502 had defeated the Akkoyunlu (Iran). Muhammad Shaybani was a leader of nomadic Uzbeks. During the ensuing years they substantially settled down in oases of Central Asia. The Uzbek invasion of the 15th Century CE was the last component of today's Uzbek nation ethnogeny.
The ancient trading dome Chorsu is situated right behind the Sher-Dor. Now it is well restored. The existence of the trading dome at this place confirms that the Registan 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.
Media related to Registan at Wikimedia Commons