Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum

The blue-domed mausoleum of Timur (Tamerlane) and his descendants — one of the masterpieces of Persianate architecture.

Gur-e-Amir (‘Tomb of the King’ in Persian) is the dynastic mausoleum of the Timurid dynasty and the architectural prototype for almost every great Mughal monument that followed — including the Taj Mahal. Built originally in 1403 by Timur for his beloved grandson and heir Muhammad Sultan, who had died young in a Persian campaign, the building was finished in 1404 and Timur himself was buried here a year later in February 1405 after dying en route to invade China. The exterior is dominated by a massive 64-rib turquoise melon-dome, 12.6 metres in diameter, supported by a high cylindrical drum of glazed-tile epigraphic Kufic. Inside, the central chamber holds nine cenotaphs of carved marble and onyx — the actual graves are in a crypt beneath, accessible by a small staircase. The most famous cenotaph is Timur’s own, made of dark green nephrite (jade) once said to be the largest piece of nephrite in the world; it is inscribed with a famous epitaph, often translated as: ‘When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble.’ Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov opened Timur’s tomb on 19 June 1941, supposedly ignoring inscriptions warning against disturbing the body — German troops invaded the Soviet Union three days later. Stalin ordered the body reburied in 1942 with full Islamic ritual; six months later the Soviet army turned the tide at Stalingrad.