Things to Do in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Quick facts: Three madrasas surround the square and their blue domes shift in color depending on the time of day. Over 6 million visitors annually are drawn here by the spectacular symmetry and the hand-painted tile work.

Highlights: When the sun goes down, the lighting is turned on and the entire square transforms into a sea of golden and blue shades. Each tile is handmade and placed according to geometric patterns that mathematicians still study.

Quick facts: Here rest several of the Timurids' grand masters, including the great conqueror Timur Lenk, whose sarcophagus of dark green jade weighs over 300 kilos. The turquoise dome, which towers 37 meters above the grave, is adorned with more than 60,000 blue-gold tiles that glitter in the sun.

Highlights: Legend has it that if anyone opens Timur's grave, a catastrophic war will be unleashed, and in fact that is exactly what happened when Soviet researchers opened the crypt on June 21, 1941, just one day before Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. Inside, in the shadow of the staircase, they found an inscription warning: "Whoever opens my grave shall unleash an invader worse than me," and many believe that Operation Barbarossa was that prophecy coming true.

Quick facts: Timur's favorite wife ordered the construction of the mosque while he was away on a military campaign, a story that gave the building its name. The 35-meter-high entrance portal was the tallest vault structure in Central Asia at the time, and the mosque could hold over 10,000 worshippers at once.

Highlights: Under the mosque's dome you can hear how a whisper from one side echoes clearly on the opposite side, an acoustic property that no one knows whether Timur planned or if it occurred by chance. The marble Quran pulpit in the middle of the courtyard is carved from a single stone from China and weighs over 12 tons.

Quick facts: Over 40 mausoleums crowd along a narrow alley, each covered in blue and turquoise glazed bricks. The burial complex grew over 300 years and each ruler tried to outdo the previous one with their magnificent tomb chamber.

Highlights: At the top of the stairs lies the grave of Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad who according to legend did not die but lives on underground. That is why the place is called "The Tomb of the Living King" and you can still see pilgrims leave small notes with prayers at his mausoleum.

Quick facts: Here, the astronomer Ulugh Beg measured the positions of the stars with a sextant that had a radius of 40 meters. His star catalog from the 15th century was so accurate that it was used by Western astronomers several hundred years later.

Highlights: The giant sextant is not above ground but dug deep into the earth crevice, so only an arc of marble sticks up. On its 40-meter-long arc, Ulugh Beg measured the positions of the sun and planets with an accuracy that would take two centuries before the Europeans matched it.

Quick facts: Here you will find the legendary Afrasiab frescoes from the 7th century, an 11 meter long wall painting depicting diplomatic missions from China, Korea and Tibet. The museum guards over 22,000 artifacts from a city that once ruled the Silk Road, everything from Bronze Age ceramics to Sasanian coins.

Highlights: The most spectacular piece is the fresco of the Sasanian ruler fleeing across the Oxus River, painted with pigments that still glow in intense yellow and blue tones after 1,300 years. If you look closely you will see elephant parades, Chinese princesses and an embassy from Korea, an incredible time machine showing what the ancient world looked like through a Central Asian lens.

Quick facts: On a hill opposite Shah-i-Zinda lies this mosque, which is dedicated to the prophet Khizr, Islam's water-living mystic who is said to have drunk from the fountain of eternity. The mosque was originally built in the 8th century, but the current structure from 1854 has a unique hourglass dome that shifts color in the sunlight.

Highlights: From the mosque's terrace you have one of Samarkand's most breathtaking views: the entire Registan square and the Bibi-Khanym mosque spread out like a living painting below. Inside the prayer hall there is a 130-year-old cedar wood door with hand-carved floral patterns that the local population believes protects against the evil eye.

Quick facts: Over 250,000 objects are in the collections, from Stone Age tools to magnificent textiles from the 19th century. One of the museum's most fascinating objects is a 2,000-year-old bronze cauldron from the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.

Highlights: An entire hall is dedicated to the wall paintings from Afrasiab's palace, where a 7-meter-long colorful scene shows a procession with horses, camels and foreign dignitaries from the 7th century. The paintings were first discovered in 1965 and are considered one of the most important archaeological finds in Central Asia.