Great Mosque of the Kussam ibn-Abbas Ensemble, the Shah-I-Zindeh Necropolis, Samarkand. The new mosaic type of glazed facing was first employed in Samarkand's architecture at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. Its labor-consuming technique, which called for a high degree of accuracy when placing the tesserae together, was akin, in its way, to inlay. The medium consisted of baked and glazed tesserae, contrived of a local, though fragile, but easily cut able faience. The various details of the ornamental design were laid out with the glazed surface down and set compactly within the contour of the design, so that no joints are visible. The piece thus obtained was coated with a ganch mortar and applied to the surface of the building. With virtuoso deftness the mosaicists cut in one piece sprays, leaves and even multi-petaled flowers out of strips and sheets of faience 3-5 millimeters thick. Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Samarkand is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic center for scholarly study.

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Thomas Kelly > The Registan with the Ulug Beg, Tillah-Kari and Shir-Dor madrasahs.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Lattice screen with inlaid glazed sky blue tracery of the knot-motif blocking off the view of the registan inner courtyard.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > The Reghistan courtyard and the main façade of the Tillah-Kari Madrasah and Ulug Beg Madrasasah, This Madrasah is the biggest of the three that Ulug Beg built during his other two were in Bukhara (1417) and Ghijduvan (1433). It likewise differed in that its curriculum, in addition to mandatory theological disciplines, offered secular subjects, such as mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and literature. Among the eminent teachers invited to lecture there were the astronomer Kazy-zadeh-Rumi, called "The Plato of His Age" and the mathematician Ali-Kushchi. Ulug Beg himself lectured there. The madrasah's designation was reflected in its layout. The tall doomed corner rooms served as the darskhanas or classrooms, while the court was enclosed by two stories of hudjira living cells-deeply-recessed lancet-arched niches. The designation of the vast oblong room on the western side is still open to question. The inner quadrangle seems comfortably scaled down to human proportions, despite its large dimensions. Its four axially disposed, deeply recessed, colonnaded aivan porches served as cool "lounges" The side walls had additional entrances framed by portals. The refined decorative scheme consisted, for the most part, of contrasting combinations of soothingly-toned baked brick or marble and vibrant, glittered glazed tiles, embellished with which were not only the outside walls and minarets, but also, surprisingly enough, such a crucial structural element as the portal. The tympani above the entrance arch are filled with the sky-blue tracery of the ghirikh (knot -motif) design with mosaic insets. The ornamental painted designs of the interior decoration, fragments of which have survived to this day.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Shir-Dor Madrasah inner courtyard.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Death Tomb.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Tillah-Kari Madrasah dome.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Uzbekistan army men stand in the interior room of the
Tillah-Kari Madrasah.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Details of the aivan of the Bolo-hauz Mosque.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Great Mosque of the Kussam ibn-Abbas Ensemble, the Shah-I-Zindeh Necropolis, Samarkand. The new mosaic type of glazed facing was first employed in Samarkand's architecture at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. Its labor-consuming technique, which called for a high degree of accuracy when placing the tesserae together, was akin, in its way, to inlay. The medium consisted of baked and glazed tesserae, contrived of a local, though fragile, but easily cut able faience. The various details of the ornamental design were laid out with the glazed surface down and set compactly within the contour of the design, so that no joints are visible. The piece thus obtained was coated with a ganch mortar and applied to the surface of the building. With virtuoso deftness the mosaicists cut in one piece
sprays, leaves and even multi-petaled flowers out of strips and sheets of faience 3-5 millimeters thick.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Thomas Kelly > Tiles pattern of the mosque.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Great Mosque of the Kussam ibn-Abbas Ensemble, the Shah-I-Zindeh Necropolis, Samarkand. The new mosaic type of glazed facing was first employed in Samarkand's architecture at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. Its labor-consuming technique, which called for a high degree of accuracy when placing the tesserae together, was akin, in its way, to inlay. The medium consisted of baked and glazed tesserae, contrived of a local, though fragile, but easily cut able faience. The various details of the ornamental design were laid out with the glazed surface down and set compactly within the contour of the design, so that no joints are visible. The piece thus obtained was coated with a ganch mortar and applied to the surface of the building. With virtuoso deftness the mosaicists cut in one piece
sprays, leaves and even multi-petaled flowers out of strips and sheets of faience 3-5 millimeters thick.
Samarkand, Uzbekistan.