The [url=https://orientalarchitecture.com/sid/1403/uzbekistan/samarkand/bibi-khanym-mosque]Bibi Khanum moskee[/url] got an eventful history.[br]After plundering DelhiTimur returned to Samarkand with 95 elephants carrying marble, willing to create a mosque without parallel throughout the Muslim world. Its dimensions are hugh:[br]The entrance gate with a height of 35m hoog has got an arch 18m large and is flanked by 50m high minarets. The inner court was paved with marble. The main mosque measures 109 x 167 m and had a capacity of 10,000 men.[br]But soon after finishing the project the mosque was showing signs of instability with the dome beginning to crumble and masonry falling on worshippers. Later it was plundered in turn by the emirs of Bukhara. An earthquake in 1897 gave an extra push en only by 1970 restauration works were started.[br]The picture below, dating from 1905 shows the complex in ruin. Much of what you can see now is filled in by the restorers themselves.[br]

The Bibi Khanum mosque doens't have the dazzling splender of the blue faience in Khiva or the Shah-i-zinda necropolis in Samarkand. but as well the main mosque as the majestic entrance gate are show examples for variations in patterns, filled by kufic calligraphy.. [br]Minarets, walls and iwans are decorated by a broad range of patterns.[br]So in this chapter we'll mainly focus on these patterns.