Built by Timur after his Indian campaign in 1399, this was intended to be the grandest mosque in the Islamic world. It was too ambitious — the dome began cracking almost immediately, and earthquakes brought much of it down over the centuries. Soviet and post-independence restoration has brought the main portal and dome back to something like their original form. The sheer size of the entrance arch gives you a sense of what Timur was aiming for. A huge marble Quran stand sits in the courtyard.
Bibi-Khanym Mosque
Timur's colossal 14th-century mosque, restored from ruins