Samarkand is not only beautiful but also very important in historical aspect. Samarkand city is the second largest city after its “big brother” Tashkent. Like Tashkent, Samarkand once was the capital of Uzbekistan. Proudly standing right in the center of Uzbekistan, on the left bank of the Zarafshan River, Samarkand generously welcomes everyone wanting to know its unbelievable breathtaking story which takes the beginning in the earliest days of humanity. Samarkand attracts tourists and scientists from all over the world with the stunning architecture, spirit of harmony, quietness and, of course, with many historical riddles and mysteries.

Beautiful and very sad legend explains the reason Samarkand city was called like that. The story is about two lovers, boy and girl of the same age. The girl who was beautifully named Kant (“sugar”) and who was actually the princess met the boy named Samar and they eventually fell in love with each other. But when the reach and powerful father of Kant knew that Samar is coming from the poor family, he rejected the possibility of their marriage. Instead of this, Kant’s father killed the boy. When she knew her lover was dead, Samar killed herself by jumping off the castle roof. Overwhelmed with sadness of this story, people made a decision and gave the city a new name, dedicated to those young boy and girl. The name was Samarkand, and the legend of this love still lives.

In the world’s history Samarkand is like phoenix: it used to be destroyed by many invasions and wars, but survived every time to reborn from the ashes. The earth of Samarkand used to know so many exhausting battles, but the city is still standing, glorious, shiny and beautiful; and the history of Samarkand began more than 2500 years ago, marking every year with important events.

Once situated on the Afrosiab Mount, the city of Samarkand (its old name was Marakanda) grew in the very fast tempo, becoming the big city with bazaars and mosques. By the time invasion of Alexander the Great had begun, Samarkand was already well developed city with big population; crafts, culture and trade was on the high level. This flourishing town fell in ruins in 328 BC during the uprising against Alexander the Great, and that was not the last ordeal in Samarkand history.