Timur's mausoleum, and one of the most beautiful buildings in Samarkand. The fluted azure dome rises above a relatively modest exterior, but the interior is extraordinary — walls covered in onyx and the crypt below holding the jade tombstone of Timur himself (the actual burial is in a vault beneath). The proportions and decoration influenced later Mughal architecture, including the Taj Mahal.
Gur-e-Amir
Timur's mausoleum with its iconic azure dome and cursed tomb
A story
When Soviet archaeologists opened Timur's tomb in June 1941, they found an inscription warning that whoever disturbed the grave would unleash an invader more terrible than Timur. Germany invaded the Soviet Union the next day.