(...)
As we walked further down in front of a school I watched a boy using his physical force upon a much smaller one, so not knowing how to react, especially not being able to say anything in Uzbek apart from "thank you", I decided to use my camera as a potential "weapon", so he almost immediately let the young boy go and looked me into the "lens" from a distance as to show me his upset expression.
I must confess I was impressed by his"eagle-like" look but a lot more with the fact that I temporarily "saved" a kid from a bullying type of situation.
As we proceeded it looked like we would be continuing on an historical and architectural "adventure", once the largest mosque in Central Asia and one of the largest mosques in the entire Muslim world, the Bibi-Khanym was the following visit.
The Bibi-Khanym mosque (the "oldest wife") was constructed for Timur's oldest wife Sarai-Mulk-Khanym, according to a legend. As it was being constructed and upon having been told her husband was on his way back from the war, Bibi-Khanym wanting to surprise him asked the architect in charge to try to speed up the works so that the mosque would be finished before her husband's return to which the architect is said to have responded that that would only be possible if she were to give him a kiss. I will give you any of my maidens, she said in despair. Why should he only focus his attention on her, she continued. By looking at some painted eggs which are all different in colour and seem to have nothing in common, once they are broken open they won't very much differ from each other and so happens with us women. The architect retorted by showing her two identical glasses, one of which he would fill with pure water and the other one with white wine.They do look alike, he said, but if I touch them with my lips one is likely to burn me like fire, whilst the other one will be tasteless and so happens with love.
As Timur was approaching Samarkand and considering the architect was young and handsome she agreed to allow him to kiss her but in the spur of the moment as he was going to kiss her she tried to protect her lips with the palm of her hand. despite the attempt the kiss was so passionate that its ardour expanded from her arm onto her face leaving a crimson mark on her cheek.
When Timur arrived he was almost instantaneously impressed by the magnificence of the mosque. Upon having asked her what had happened to her face and after she told him the truth he became furious and is said to have told her to take her valuable assets and go.
As she was preparing to leave she is said to have told him she would depart without anything because he was the most valuable thing she had. Timur did forgive her but is said to have ordered women to use the veil in order to hide their beauty since that day.
Uzbek legends were abundant and if I am honest I must say I did like the whole "fairy-like" atmosphere about almost everything. They didn't interfere with the beauty of the monuments or the things they "touched" but they added an additional magic spell onto some of them.
I couldn't help looking at the mosque without thinking about Bibi-Khanym's "breaching" of the rules and Timur's forgiving gesture.
Some of the multi-coloured glazed bricks forming intricate geometric designs looked familiar but they were almost certainly different variations of the ones we had seen before. We were told the whole ensemble went through extensive preservation works in 2003, namely in regards to the portal, the mosques in the courtyard and the small mosques on each side, as well as the minaret.
"Its dome would be unique if the sky were not its repetition and so would the arch if the Via Lactea were not its match" .
Just across the road from the mosque we could see the mausoleum of Bibi-Khanym (on the left), which has become a pilgrimage place for many Uzbek women.
(To be continued)
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