OULOUGH BEGH OBSERVATORY

The visit of the Oulough Begh observatory may seem to be one of the most disappointing in Samarkand. Unfortunately, it is so little to be seen from this famous observatory that some'will break ', which would be a mistake, because the only view of the underground part of the giant sextant is worth visiting: a 11 m arc lined with marble parapets where the degrees are indicated. Long lost in memory, the location of the observatory was rediscovered at the beginning of the century by Viatkine, a master of archaeology buff, whose tomb we can see at the entrance to the site. Oulough Begh was a scholar, both poet and mathematician, considered one of the greatest astronomers of his time. While the telescopes were still unknown, he wrote an astronomical catalogue where the coordinates of more than 1 000 stars were recorded. He knew the cycle of rotation of planet Saturn as well as the duration of the stellar year with less than one minute error. But his son, allied to religious fanatics, ended his work by murdering her in 1449. Not happy to remove the man of science, who dared to discuss God's existence with his students, the fanatics destroyed his achievements and, above all, the most disrespectful: the observatory which housed the world's largest sextant: 90 °, while the usual sextants are 60 °.

The circular shaped building, 45 m high, had three levels whose walls decorated with frescos were telling the heavens and the solar system. Descriptions of the time bitterly regret their destruction. A small museum at the entrance to the site recounts the life of the principal scientists and poets of the timurid era as well as that of the most famous astronomers. To get there, take one of the buses that goes back the road from Tashkent, at the exit of the market, in front of the Khazret Khriz mosque, and get off at the statue of Oulough Begh.