They arose and developed as centres of trade and crafts along the Silk Road, as strongholds of the blossoming oases of the region in the struggle against conquerors. Over the centuries, these cities were repeatedly destroyed and re-emerged from the ruins. Archaeological research, which began in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and continues to this day, has allowed many events and monuments of the past to be revived. In 1885, N. I. Veselovsky started and in 1904, V. V. Bartold continued excavations at Afrasiab – the site of ancient Samarkand that was built in the 6th century BC and destroyed in 1220 as a result of the Mongol invasion.
Due to the efforts of the enthusiastic local historian and archaeologist V. L. Vyatkin, in 1909 the location and remains of one of the most famous medieval observatories in the world were found there, built in the early 1420s by Mirza Ulugh Beg – the grandson of Amir Timur and the ruler of Transoxiana, the greatest mathematician and astronomer. After the death of Ulugh Beg, the observatory was abandoned, and at the beginning of the 16th century, it was destroyed.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album “Uzbekistan in historic photographs of the 19th - early 20th centuries in the collections of Russian archives” (Volume XXXVII) in the series “Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan”.
The general sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.