Shah-i-Zinda — "The Living King" — is a necropolis on the slope of the Afrasiab hill that pilgrims have been climbing for almost nine centuries. Legend holds that Qusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad who brought Islam to Samarkand, rests here. For centuries Tamerlane's relatives and the empire's nobility were buried around his shrine, and so a whole corridor of mausoleums grew.
The Street of the Finest Majolica in the East
A narrow stairway leads past some two dozen tombs of the 11th–15th centuries, each one a masterpiece in its own right: carved terracotta, deep-blue majolica, mosaics you cannot look away from. Note the Shadi-Mulk-aka mausoleum (1372), whose tiles are considered the summit of the Samarkand school, and the Tuman-aka portal with its rare lilac glaze.
As you climb the entrance stairway, count the steps: local belief says that if your count going up matches the count coming down, your wish will come true.
Guide's tip: come by 8 a.m., when the low sun sets the tiles ablaze and the narrow corridor is still empty. Remember this is an active place of pilgrimage: dress modestly and give way to worshippers.