The Amir Temur Mausoleum, also known as Gur-i Amir, was never meant for Amir Temur. He ordered it in 1404 for his favourite grandson, Muhammad Sultan, who died suddenly at 27. Timur had already minted coins naming him heir.

Then the family moved in. Timur was buried here, alongside his sons Shah Rukh and Miran Shah, his spiritual teacher and his grandson Ulugh Beg, who was executed by his own son. In 1941, Soviet researchers opened the tombs and confirmed Timur's fused thigh bone, the cause of his lameness.

On VoiceMap's Samarkand tour, you read the architect's signature above the portal, then step inside to find the jade slab over Timur's grave. Nadir Shah's troops carried it off to Iran in 1740. It reportedly cracked at the joint when it came back.