class="apple-converted-space"> 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 centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century it became the
capital of the empire of
Timur(Tamerlane)
and is the site of his mausoleum (the
Gur-e
Amir). The
Bibi-Khanym Mosque
(a modern replica) remains one of the
city's most notable landmarks. The
Registan
was the ancient center of the city.
In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures
