Sherdor Madrassah

Sherdor Madrassah
(1619-1636)
In the history of the city of Samarkand, the first half of the XVII century is connected with the activities of its governor Yalangtush Bahodir, the representative of the Uzbek military nobility of the Olchin tribe. In Ashtarkhaniye, the construction was revived in Samarkand. Bakhodшr, the well-known military commander, who was appointed a governor of Samarkand by Imam Qulikhon, was a well-known military commander. In honor of Mirzo Ulugbek, ‘At the initiative of Yalangtush Bakhodyr, renovated the ruins of the famous and luxurious Ulugbek madrassah on Registan Square and two luxurious buildings built by Ulugbek on the site of the demolished rupture and the two-storey Sherdor Madrassah Tower (1619-1636). Madrasah was built between 1646 and 1660. The Sherdor madrassah was built in front of a small copy of the Ulugbek madrasah in the place of the demolished dome. Its look is essentially the same as that of Ulugbek Madrasah. The buildings are similar, but not the same in terms of quality and architecture.
The Sherdor Madrasah’s dimension is 70x57 meters. It is a four-sided building surrounded by 52 two-storey rooms, there were classrooms in the corners of the courtyard. But there is no mosque there, and the southwestern classroom is a shrine as it is directly adjacent to the mausoleum of Abu Ja'fari Sodiq. The minarets and domes of the Sherdor madrassah are similar to the Ulugbek madrassah, but the front facade is surrounded by towers.
During the construction of the Sherdor madrassah, many innovations of the 17th century architecture were used to speed up and reduce the amount of time spent on the construction process, but the influence of the artistic decoration was somewhat diminished. But the use of colors and the exquisite elegance of some of the panels are striking evidence of the excellent mastery of the architects and painters who created this magnificent monument.
The ornaments covered the whole appearance of the monument. They decorated the monument with wreaths, large hoops, ornaments, and sometimes flower bands. After all, it is this method that has formed the Samarkand School of Architecture.
In classical Muslim astronomy, the fact that the sun is at the zenith of Lion (Leo zodiac), is a sign of prosperity. It can be understood that the building was built in July. Leo (Lion) in Islam coincides with the fifth month of July, which is now July. From this, the building of the Sherdor madrassa began in 1619: Yalangtosh - 816, Bahodir - 212, a total of 1028 A.D. Bakhodyr is a historical person who shows the year of construction mentioned above in the abjad calculation.
The inscriptions on the walls of the madresseh are also engraved by the famous architects, such as the architect Abdu Jabbor and the carving artist Avazi Samarkandi.
In the historical inscription on the top of the Sherdor Madrasah:
This high and great madrassah was built during the great Hakan and enormous kingdom. In His Great Book, Allah states: ‘Verily, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good, and the giving of kindness to one's kindred.’ (Qur'an, 16:90). Allah has said the right thing. And he made an effort to build Imamkul Muhammad Khan [the building], and the great emir, Yalangtosh Bahodyr, the builder of this building, initiated this because his interest in establishing two good houses [madrassas] was very high. He succeeded in building the madrassa and finishing its ornaments in one thousand and forty-two [1642].
If you look at the madrassah, you can see the lion, turning to deer and the sun behind them. There are two definitions for this. One is described by the Zoroastrian religion as ‘the conflict between the god of evil Ahriman and the god of goodness in Ahuramaz, that is, the good and evil are side by side’. It is also defined differently. In some other materials, it says that there is a student who is chasing after knowledge (Lion is a student and a deer is knowledge). There used to be a rectangular pattern in the center of the complex. This pattern dated back to the Zoroastrian religion and referred to four elements: fire, earth, water and air. By the eighth century AD, when the Arabs conquered Central Asia, they changed the pattern of the Zoroastrian religion and wrote ‘Allah’ and ‘Muhammad’ on the four sides.
After the Arabs had conquered Central Asia, they embraced Islam. They used these towers to call to pray. They prayed 5 times a day. The word ‘minor’ comes from the Arabic language, which means ‘beacon.’ Each of the towers has its stairs. The caravans passing the ‘Great Silk Road’ provided fire to the traders, who set fire to the towers. These towers also provided protection against enemy attack.
The gemstones in the courtyard are true stones dating back to the 17th century. There are gates to the madrassahs on both sides. Although there are not the original gates, these gates were made of mulberry trees in 1905. They are 100 years old. Two-storey buildings were erected on the four sides of the yard. The original ornaments in the Sherdor madrassah have been preserved up to now. Note that the patterns in bright vivid colors are preserved patterns, while light ornaments are contemporary patterns. From the seventeenth century to the present, there are excerpts and verses from the Koran. Not only did the students learn prayers, but the entire building was enriched with prayers. From the walls to the top, there are verses from the holy books. As mentioned earlier, the madrassa is two-storey, with two students in each room, and one teacher taught two students for 10 years. But why were the doors in the rooms so small and low or were the people of that time so small?
In fact, at the top of each door there are hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad, which are designed to keep the temperature inside, for students to remember to bow to the hadiths while entering the room. The student bowed his head as he entered the room. The academic year began on September, 21 and ended on March, 21 with a 5-month vacation.
Looking at the yard from the inside, it looks like there is no exit. It was designed to ensure that the students aren’t distracted while others walking through the gate to the courtyard during the study.
After the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, thanks to the 660th anniversary of the great commander and statesman Amir Temur, there was much restoration in the south and east facades of the building, two minarets, the main facade, the backyard and the inner courtyard.