It seems that I have always known the name Samarkand.

Christopher a l'impression d'avoir toujours connu Samarkand.

Since a child I have collected anecdotes of the arcane, hunches of the far-out and landmarks of foreign routes. Woven together they form a type of treasure map that I use to venture back of the beyond.

Samarkand figures in this tapestry.

Depuis tout petit, il collectionait les anecdotes de ces routes etrangeres. Il en formait une veritable tapisserie de cartes geographiques desquelles il forgeait ses reveries.

Samarkand est faisait partie de ce monde.

Also, since a child, I have had a recurring dream...

I am somewhere in Russia and move overland down through central Asia and cross the mountains to enter India.

De plus, depuis son enfance, un reve revient le hanter de facon periodique.

Il se trouve en Russie sur la route vers l'Asie Centrale. Il traverse les montagnes qui le menent vers l'Inde. En d'autres mots, ils suit la route de la soie.

Today Samarkand is a large modern city, much like Tashkent. Most of the ancient buildings in town were built in the 14th and 15th centuries by Timur (Tamerlane) or his grandson Ulugbek. Unlike Bukara, the various madressas, mosques and mausoleums in Samarkand seem to stand apart from the commercial districts that are adjacent.

Aujourd'hui, Samarkand est une metropole moderne. La plupart des edifices historiques qui demeurent datent des 14eme et 15eme siecles, du temps de timur et Ulugbek. Ils paraissent mal a l'aise, ils n'ont pas ete integres au reste du decors, comme a Bukara.