Wednesday 29 May 2013

More Ms



A necropolis may not be the obvious choice of venue to spend the day after your 60th birthday,


but when it's the Shakhi Zinda in Samarkand and is so beautiful (and peaceful despite the number of visitors) what can I say?  It seemed a perfectly reasonable place to be.... on a temporary basis that is.....I made no plans to move in permanently......










Equally interesting for someone with a vivid imagination was the modern part of the cemetery where most headstones included a photo embedded into the stone - how it's done, I don't know. I saw several stonemasons' workshops but no-one working at the time. 
 

The main paths were well paved...


......but had side tracks leading to higgledy-piggledy clusters of headstones and patches of iris and other spring flowers in bloom. 
 
 


Despite being unable to read much of the inscription, by looking at the faces it was easy to imagine a narrative. As in any such place there are a lot of small histories which, in reality, all combine to create to the greater picture.


Quiescent in the presence and grandeur of the domes.





All in all a quiet interlude into an otherwise jam-packed day.

Sue xxxx

(I will post about tiles and domes in more detail later - they deserve close attention.)

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