Near the site of the great 15th-century observatory stands the Memorial Museum of Mirzo Ulugbek, dedicated to the outstanding scholar, astronomer, and ruler.
The first museum opened in 1964, and in 2010, a new building was constructed on the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov.
The façade resembles the portals of medieval madrasahs, while the circular shape symbolises an ancient clock — a metaphor for time and science.
Together with the foundation of the observatory and the monumental quadrant, the museum forms a single architectural and historical ensemble.I
Inside, visitors are transported into the atmosphere of the 15th century.
The exhibition features fragments of the famous Zij-i Gurgoni star tables compiled by Ulugbek and his disciples, ancient astronomical instruments, maps of the Timurid Empire and the Great Silk Road, coins from the Timurid period, and waqf documents.
Among the highlights are an armillary sphere and a ceremonial drum, a replica of the one that Saint Mir Said Baraka once presented to Amir Temur.
A special part of the exhibition is devoted to the 17th-century engravings by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius, who admired Ulugbek’s work and published his star catalogue in Gdańsk in 1690 in the book Prodromus Astronomiae (“Forerunner of Astronomy”).
In the first engraving, Ulugbek is depicted at a round table among great astronomers — Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, Riccioli, Wilhelm IV, and Hevelius — under the guidance of the Muse of Astronomy, Urania.
Ulugbek sits at her right hand, an homage to the Samarkand scientist’s genius.
In the second engraving, he stands full-length among ten astronomers from different eras and nations — a symbol that science unites humanity beyond time and borders.
Outside the museum stands a monument to Mirzo Ulugbek, set against a starry-sky mosaic — a tribute to a man who measured the heavens with precision far ahead of his time.
