Registon and its three madrasas in Samarkand

Registon in Samarkand is a broad public square framed by three monumental Islamic colleges, their tiled portals facing each other across an open paved space. At its centre, the expanse of stone and brick sets off the scale and colour of the Timurid and later Central Asian architecture that made Samarkand a key stop along the Silk Road in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Three madrasas facing one another

Registon takes its name from Persian and related languages, where the word refers to a sandy place, echoing the days when this part of Samarkand functioned as a market square covered with loose soil rather than stone.The meaning “sandy place” still appears in many descriptions of the site. The square itself lies in central Samarkand in eastern Uzbekistan, surrounded by city streets but visually defined by the monumental religious schools that enclose it on three sides.The location in Samarkand, Uzbekistan is a constant in modern maps and guidebooks.

The ensemble consists of the Ulugh Beg Madrasa, the Sher-Dor Madrasa and the Tilya-Kori Madrasa, each built as an Islamic college with its own courtyard and teaching rooms.The three named madrasas line the square with high entrance portals, flanking minarets and long facades covered in glazed tile. Together they form a horseshoe arrangement around the paved central space, turning Registon into a kind of open-air hall whose “walls” are the madrasas themselves.

Timurid science and later splendour

The oldest of the three buildings is the Ulugh Beg Madrasa, commissioned by the Timurid ruler and astronomer Ulugh Beg and built between 1417 and 1420 on the western side of the square.Its construction between 1417 and 1420 places it in the last generation of the Timurid golden age, when Samarkand served as a centre of learning as well as power. Behind its towering entrance portal lies a courtyard lined with arcades and student cells, continuing the classic madrasa layout found across the Islamic world.

Facing Ulugh Beg’s college across the square is the later Sher-Dor Madrasa, built between 1619 and 1636, and the Tilya-Kori Madrasa, completed between 1646 and 1660 on the northern edge.The dates of Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori give the ensemble a construction span of nearly two centuries. Sher-Dor is known for its bold portal decoration and flanking domes, while Tilya-Kori combines college buildings with a mosque hall whose interior surfaces include extensive gilding, reflected in its name, which refers to gold.

Tiles, domes and a UNESCO-inscribed city

Seen from the paving of Registon, the three madrasas present tall pishtaqs, or entrance arches, covered in geometric and floral tile patterns in shades of blue, turquoise and ochre. Slender minarets rise at the corners of the facades, and domes and secondary halls extend behind, forming a dense concentration of Islamic architecture within a relatively compact area of the city.Descriptions of the tiled facades and layout are a constant feature of guides and histories.

Registon forms part of the World Heritage property “Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures”, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2001 as recognition of the city’s role along major Silk Road routes and the quality of its surviving architecture.Its inclusion in Samarkand’s World Heritage status ties the square to other monuments in the historic centre. Standing at Registon therefore gives a concentrated view of several centuries of Central Asian building, from Timurid scholarship under Ulugh Beg to the richly ornamented seventeenth-century colleges that completed the frame of the square.

Visiting Registon: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Registon stands in central Samarkand in eastern Uzbekistan, with the three madrasas enclosing the paved square on three of its sides and city streets reaching it from several directions.
• The square surface is paved and largely level, while entry into the madrasas involves steps at the thresholds and further staircases inside the buildings.
• Within walking distance of Registon lie other major Samarkand monuments belonging to the same World Heritage property, allowing visitors to link several sites in a single urban stroll.
• The official language is Uzbek and the currency is the Uzbek sum.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

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Frequently asked questions about Registon

Where is Registon and what is it?

Registon is a historic square in central Samarkand in eastern Uzbekistan, framed by three Islamic colleges or madrasas dating from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.

What can visitors expect to see at Registon?

Visitors encounter a large paved square bordered by the Ulugh Beg, Sher-Dor and Tilya-Kori madrasas, with high tiled portals, minarets and courtyards behind the facades.

What makes Registon distinctive among Central Asian sites?

Registon is distinctive for its ensemble of three monumental madrasas facing one another around a single square and for its role within Samarkand’s UNESCO-listed historic centre.