Uzbekistan: Portico detail at Ulug Beg Madrassa, The Registan, Samarkand

The Registan contains three madrasahs (schools), the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417-1420), Tilya-Kori Madrasah (1646-1660) and the Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619-1636). <br/><br/> The Ulugh Beg Madrasah has its imposing portal with lancet arch facing the square. The corners are flanked by the high well-proportioned minarets. The square-shaped courtyard includes a mosque, lecture rooms and is fringed by the dormitory cells. There are deep galleries along the axes.<br/><br/>The mosaic panel over the entrance arch is decorated by the high well-proportioned minarets. Originally the Ulugh Beg Madrasah was a two-storied building with four domed darskhonas (lecture rooms) at the corners. Abdurakhman Djami, a prominent poet, scientist and philosopher studied here. During Ulugh Beg's government the madrasah was a center of secular science.