Ulugbek Madrasa, Bukhara

The oldest surviving madrasa in Central Asia, this college in Bukhara was founded in the fifteenth century by the astronomer-ruler Ulugh Beg, grandson of Timur, as a centre of learning that reflected his passion for science. Its restrained tiled portal bears an inscription urging the pursuit of knowledge, and behind it lies a courtyard framed by two storeys of former student cells. Facing the more flamboyant Abdulaziz Khan madrasa across the street, it represents an earlier, austere phase of Timurid architecture.