Tilla-Kari Madrasa, Samarkand

Registan_Tillya-Kari_madrasah2014.JPG
09-photo-workshop-adventures-uzbekistan.jpg
5e30abe02b808-6061-medrese-tillja-kari.jpeg
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Name of Building

Tilla-Kari Madrasa, Samarkand

Town or City, Country where the building was originally established

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Date the building was designed and/or first built

Built: 1646–1660 (mid-17th century)

Name of Architect, Builder, or Primary Patron Responsible

Patron: Yalangtush Bakhodur
Architects unknown (Bukharan court workshops)

Culturally Specific Time Period

Late Timurid / Bukharan period

Geo-Location

Latitude: 39.6541 N
Longitude: 66.9750 E

Materials

Brick, stucco, glazed tile, gold leaf interior decoration

Size and/or Scale of Building

Madrasa with mosque, courtyard, and vaulted arcades

Architectural Type

Religious

Building Description

The Tilla-Kari Madrasa stands as a seventeenth-century educational complex situated on Samarkand's Registan square which features a central courtyard surrounded by vaulted arcades and an iwan that accesses a mosque with its interior surfaces adorned with luxurious gold decorations. The building exterior displays Central Asian decorative elements through its blue tile patterns and geometric and floral designs. The interior mosque area features gold leaf decorations which create a light-reflecting effect on the muqarnas and decorative paintings. The courtyard provides access to the domed sanctuary through which visitors experience a transition between educational areas and sacred areas. The construction of Tilla-Kari as part of a grand architectural complex demonstrates how Islamic education maintained its high status during the Bukharan era while enhancing the ceremonial value of the Registan area.

Names(s) and location(s) of the museum holding the object(s)

N/A

Image source

Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Registan_Tillya-Kari_madrasah2014.JPG
Image 2: https://dwc.kg/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/09-photo-workshop-adventures-uzbekistan.jpg
Image 3: https://dwc.kg/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/5e30abe02b808-6061-medrese-tillja-kari.jpeg
Image 4: https://dwc.kg/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/may-holidays-31.jpg

Creative Commons or other copyright information

Image 1: Creative Commons
Image 2: Creative Commons
Image 3: Creative Commons
Image 4: Creative Commons

Student First and Last Name

Mursal Abdullah

Bibliographic references for the item

Blair, S. and Bloom, J. (1995) The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250–1800. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Golombek, L. and Wilber, D. (1988) The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Archnet (n.d.) Tilla-Kari Madrasa, Samarkand. Available at: https://archnet.org/ (Accessed: December 6, 2025).

Citation

Patron: Yalangtush Bakhodur Architects unknown (Bukharan court workshops) , “Tilla-Kari Madrasa, Samarkand,” World Architecture, accessed June 28, 2026, https://www.worldarchitecture.artinterp2.org/items/show/197.

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