Silk Road sojourn
Folklore has it that this mosque was built by Amir Timur for his favourite wife, Bibi Khonum (Persian for “queen of all women”), while Timur was campaigning abroad. It is said that the architect fell madly in love with her, and refused to complete the job unless she agreed to kiss him. When Timur found out about it, he ordered both to be killed. However, there is no trustworthy source which mentions a wife of Timur who was known by this name.


Uzbekistan – formerly a part of the Soviet Union – was an important Silk Road stopover. Abror and Anke captured Samarkand, Tashkent, Ferghana and Bukhara in this sojourn