It is said that the legacy of Ulugbek is almost as pervasive in Samarkand as that of Tamerlane himself. Ulugbek was a grandson of Tamerlane and is best known for his work in the field of astronomy. He was known as the ‘scientist on the throne’ as his accomplishments in science and astronomy eclipse his feats as a ruler. He is credited with building the largest observatory in medieval Central Asia and is recognised as one of the greatest astronomers of his day.

Although much of the three-story observatory was destroyed long ago, its sizable underground arc has survived as a testimony to his ingenious contributions to the field of science.
Construction began in 1424 and was completed in 1429. It was considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic World.
The objective of the observatory was to observe the stars and their coordinates, to determine the exact number of days in a year and to research other aspects of the universe.

With the observatory, they were able to find the exact coordinates of 1018 stars, determine the tilt of the earth and even predict eclipses. In 1429 they discovered with amazing accuracy, the length of a star year, which by Ulugbek’s calculation equaled 365 days 6 hours 10 minutes 8 seconds. Modern technology with digital instruments illustrate that they were actually of the mark by just 1 minute and 2 seconds! All of this accomplished 200 years before the telescope was even invented.

The observatory is situated on a hilltop a short distance from the city and lay buried underground for many years after it was destroyed. It was only rediscovered in 1908 by an Uzbek/Russian archaeologist by the name of Vassily Vyatkin from Samarkand.
The complex today also includes a small but fascinating museum on the royal astronomer’s accomplishments which enables the visitor to appreciate the site in full.