Gur-i Amir, Samarkand

Gur-i Amir, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Visited September 2008

The Gur-i Amir is the mausoleum of Timur, historically known as Tamerlane or Timurlane, who died in 1405 CE. Tamerlane was a great Persian ruler and conqueror, who founded the Timurid Dynasty and Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia.

Although the building is greatly restored, you can see from the shape and decoration how it became the influence for later tombs in Asia, in particular those of Mughal India (such as the Taj Mahal).

The mausoleum contains the tombs not only of Tamerlane, but also two of his sons, two of his grandsons and his teacher, and it was the family crypt of the Timurid Dynasty.

The mausoleum has wonderful tiled decoration in vivid blues and greens. Much of it was restored during the period Uzbekistan was part of the USSR (during this time, Tamerlane was exhumed in 1941 and reburied in the mausoleum in 1942).

A lovely place - if you go to Samarkand, then do make sure you get to this site as part of your visit.

Persian manuscript showing Tamerlane on a throne.

Hither Green Cemetery, London

Hither Green Cemetery, Lewisham, London

Visited January 2016

Hither Green Cemetery opened in 1873, and retains the ornamental entrance gates and pair of chapels although the dissenters chapel is now out of use, falling into disrepair and fenced off. The oldest part of the cemetery around the chapels is slightly overgrown, and has a few large monuments. It was later extended but the new area is a rather dull grid of paths and gravestones, with few trees. Adjacent to the cemetery is Hither Green Crematorium, which opened in 1956. One area is set aside for war graves and the war memorial, including a memorial to the pupils and teachers of Sandhurst Road School, who died when the school was hit by a bomb in 1943.

The cemetery is still in use, with modern burials among the Victorian ones - the most recent I saw was only a few days old. This means that even on a grey Sunday the cemetery is busy with cars of grave owners, and a photographer may get a few funny looks. 

As well as the graves, the cemetery is known as one of the main roosts of the parakeets which have made south east London their home - the rows of lombardy poplars in particular are full of their shrieks, and flashes of green can be seen flying between the trees.