Madrasa

I had previously understood a madrasa to be a place that provided Islamic instruction, but in amongst the potted history of Uzbekistan that I picked up on a recent tour, I have come to realise that throughout much of their history madrasas taught quite a range of subjects, just like the old colleges here in the UK. This picture is of the Sher-Dor Madrasa, one of three magnificent madrasas facing the central square in Samarkand. This particular institution was built early in the 17th century, making it for example an educational contemporary of Pembroke College in Oxford. Whilst the external decoration of a typical madrasa seems rather different from the archetypal Oxford college, it was pleasing to me to discover that the layout inside each madrasa consists one or more quadrangles, just like their English equivalents!

I decided to try another “lithograph” style drawing for this view, with the background colour inspired by some of the amazing tiles that are used to decorate buildings in this part of the world. The result is pleasing enough to the eye, but nowhere near as stunning as the real building.