Ulug Beg, the grandson of Timur Lenk, buit the [url=https://orientalarchitecture.com/sid/1347/uzbekistan/samarkand/ulugh-beg-madrasa-of-samarkand]Ulug Beg madrassa[/url] in 1417-1420. together with theTillya Kari madrassa and the Shir Dor madrassa it forms the impressive historical architectonic whole of the Registan square in Samarkand.[br]The iwan of the main measures 35 m, and is decorated with a geometric pattern and an inscription in kufic schript: [i]"Thise magnificent façade is of such a height it is twice the heavens and of such weight that the spine of the earth is about to crumble."[/i][br]The spandrel is decorated with a geometric pattern of remarkable 16-pointed stars. Mostly the greater stars go together with stars with half as much stars, often connected to the principle star by a wreath of polygons (often pentagons). This decoration shows 8-pointed stars, but the transistion is created in two steps.[br][list][*]The 16-pointed stars are surrounded by a wreath of irregular hexagons.[/*][*]The 8-pointed stars are surrounded by a wreath of smaller irregular hexagons.[br][/*][*]Both wreaths define around the 16- and 8-pointed stars a wreath of 5-pointed stars.[/*][/list]In the tiling these transitions are realised by irregular pentagons of different shape, depending whather they link two hexadecagons or a hexadecagon and an octagon.

Zooming in unto the pattern you cannotice that the design doesn't stop with the creation of a line pattern. A wide range of decorating filling remains.[br]Most remarkable is the colourful filling of the dark 16-pointed stars and the relief given to the white irregular hexagons. [br]Expoiting relief in decoration is also used on the side walls of the entrance. White ties, realised in relief surround flat 10-pointed stars that are colourfully painted.