Men and boys on steps of the Sher-Dor madrassa in Samarkand’s Registan Square Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky set off for Samarkand in late 1906, just as he was perfecting the color-photograph technique that ...

Founded in around 700 BCE, Samarkand is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Here’s what visitors heading to this Uzbekistan city today can expect.

Entrance to the Sher-Dor Madrasa: The top depicts two tigers chasing deer. Adjacent to the Ulugh Beg Madrasa stands the Sher-Dor Madrasa, constructed in the 17th century.

Founded in around 700 BCE, Samarkand is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Here’s what visitors heading to this Uzbekistan city can expect.

Like the Sher-Dor madrasah, it was sponsored by Yalangtush Bahadur, the military governor of the city, who ruled by order of the Janid dynasty of Bukhara.

According to him, Samarkand’s Registan Square was once regarded as the hub of the Timurid Renaissance. Under the Timurid dynasty, many religious and cultural buildings were built in the city.