Gur-e-Amir — Mausoleum of Amir Temur

The great conqueror beneath the blue dome

Gur-e-Amir is the mausoleum where Amir Temur, his sons and his grandson Ulugh Beg are buried. Its blue dome with 64 ribs shines in the sun. The black stone on Temur's grave is jade — the largest piece of jade in the world. Legend: when scientists opened the tomb in 1941, the stone bore the words 'Whoever opens this will unleash an invader more terrible than I' — two days later the war began!

Gur-e-Amir (1403–1404) was begun for Temur's grandson Muhammad Sultan; Temur himself was buried here in 1405, and it became the Timurid dynastic tomb: Shahrukh, Miranshah, Ulugh Beg and Temur's teacher Mir Said Baraka. An octagonal building with a 64-ribbed blue dome (34 m) — the emblem of Timurid architecture and a model for Humayun's Tomb and the Taj Mahal. Inside are gilded 'kundal' ornament and onyx panels. Temur's tombstone is a monolith of dark-green jade brought by Ulugh Beg from Moghulistan in 1425 (broken in two by Nadir Shah in 1740). On 21 June 1941 M. Gerasimov's expedition opened the tomb and reconstructed Temur's face from his skull (172 cm tall, lame in the right leg — 'Timur the Lame'); on 22 June Germany invaded the USSR. The real graves lie in the crypt below.

Fun facts

• Temur's tombstone is the largest piece of jade in the world.
• The tomb was opened on 21 June 1941 — the war began the next day.
• Gur-e-Amir's dome was the model for the Taj Mahal.