Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory

SHARE WITH FRIENDS:

Samarkand - Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory
This museum is named after the observatory of Mirzo Ulugbek, a famous son of the great Uzbek people, a unique scientist and statesman who made an invaluable contribution to the development of world science. At the entrance to the complex from the west, we come across the image of the scientist and statesman Mirzo Ulugbek sitting on the throne. The statue was created by People's Artist of Uzbekistan Ravshan Mirtojiev. The panel "Starry Sky" on the back of the statue, which includes the sun and nine planets, is an example of the work of employees of the Main Department for Preservation and Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Rakhmonov Private Enterprise. It was carried out by the head of the Samarkand repair company Bakhrillo Abdullaev with students.
It is known from our history that Mirzo Ulugbek came to the throne in 1409 and further beautification of the city ensured that Movarounnahr remained a scientific and cultural center. He invited the most advanced scientists in mathematics and astronomy to Samarkand and ordered the construction of an observatory. In 1424-1428, the world-famous Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory was built on the slopes of Kohak Hill on the banks of the Obirahmat River in the north of Samarkand. Prior to that, scientific observations of the catastrophe were carried out at the Ulugbek madrasah, built in 1417-1420 (now Registan Square).
The observatory is a huge cylindrical three-storey building with a height of 30 m, in which there was a giant quadrant with a radius of 41 m. The southern part of the quadrant was underground, and the rest was 30 m above ground level on the north side.
After the death of Mirzo Ulugbek, his scientific work continued for some time, and later the observatory was destroyed. Even the ability to locate the observatory was a difficult task. In 1908, Samarkand local historian, archeologist VL Vyatkin (popularly known as Vosi aka) in collaboration with Samarkand scholar Abu Sa'id Mahzum, based on the historical work of Babur Mirzo "Boburnoma" and Abu Tahir Khoja "Samaria" and the foundation document , agreed to determine the location of the observatory. Excavations were carried out in 1908-1909, which attracted the attention of scientists around the world. At the depth of the rock carving, two parallel arches made of marble, part of a very large square (device) with a meridian radius of 41 m, were found.
In 1946-1948, an expedition of the Institute of History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan completed the excavations.
According to Babur Mirza, the observatory is a three-storey building with a circle, the walls of which are covered with mysterious tiles by Abdurazzaq Samarkandi. describes the interior of this rare monument as follows: "The interior of the building is decorated with unique patterns in the world, the walls and ceilings of the sky are counted in degrees, minutes, even seconds, seven planets and" stationary "stars, as well as the globe, the seven climates, the mountain deserts, and the rivers and seas, and the oceans. ”
The observatory was built in 1424-1428 in the book "Samaria" by Abu Tahir.
In 1417, Mirzo Ulugbek invited astronomers to discuss plans to create an astronomical table and an observatory. Observations begin this year and end 30 years later, in 1447. All the planets are observed to revolve around the sun. By this time, the work "Ziji" will be completed. At the observatory, it was possible to make some observations with the naked eye, both without instruments.
The observatory quadrant had a diameter of 80 meters and an arc length of 63 meters. It was the largest of the instruments available in the East, and Beruni also reported a large-diameter quadrant (15 cubits).
Well-known scientists of their time - astronomers, mathematicians, architects, including Qazizada Rumi, Giyosiddin Jamshid and Ali Kushchi were involved in the construction.
After the death of Mirzo Ulugbek, the observatory operated for several decades under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Kushchi and Miram Chalabi.
In 1994, by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Mirzo Ulugbek, the Year of Mirzo Ulugbek was declared in the Republic.
On the entrance to the museum is a portrait of Mirzo Ulugbek created by Akmal Ikromjanov, an academician of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan. On the right side of the wall there is a picture of Mirzo Ulugbek's students teaching Ali Kushchi the science of "Usturlob". The process of scientific-practical work, in which scientists use the Golden Globe and various instruments, the original of which is in England, is depicted on both sides of the door in the style of “Sunrise”. The author of the murals at the entrance to the museum is a senior lecturer at the National Institute of Art and Design named after Kamoliddin Behzod, a member of the Union of Artists of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan: Mirkhomid Sobirov, and the masters of decoration are the famous painter Ahror Askarov decorated by his disciples.
Our sovereign ancestor liberated Movarounnahr from the Mongol invasion and established a centralized powerful state along with the restoration of the Great Turan state. Rui Ganzales de Clavijo from Castile makes this clear. The hurricane instrument under the mirror is also an original exhibit and is one of the items demonstrating the power of the army of Timur's state.
Amir Temur and the Timurid dynasty ruled from 1370 to 1858 in Movarounnahr, Khorasan, Iraq, northern India, Afghanistan and other areas. Zahriddin Muhammad Babur, a descendant of Amir Temur's third son Mironshah Mirza, and his descendants established a powerful kingdom in Afghanistan and India. 193 generations of this great dynasty ruled for almost 500 years and made a significant contribution to the development of world civilization.
Amir Temur revived the Great Silk Road and established trade and material ties in order to establish close ties with Eastern and Western countries. Amir Temur's letter to King Charles VI of France gave detailed information about this.
When Amir Temur's fourth son, Shahrukh Mirzo, turned 17, his son, Muhammad Taragay Mirzo Ulugbek, was born, and Ulugbek's wedding took place in the Konigil district. Sahibkiran Temur pays special attention to the upbringing of Mirzo Ulugbek. During his forty years of rule, Mirzo Ulugbek marched to Mongolia in 1425 with a large army to ensure the borders and security of his country.
During the reigns of Shahrukh Mirza and Mirza Ulugbek, vast lands stretched from Mongolia to the east, to Egypt and Rome in the west, to central India in the south, and to the Dashti Kipchak border in the north. There are enough sources about this in the works "Zafarnoma" and "Boburnoma".
Mirzo Ulugbek continued the creative work of the great Sahibkiran Temur, he built many madrasas, mosques and khanaqas, baths. In particular, it repairs facilities such as the Oqsaroy.
He will reduce the land tax in Movarounnahr. Contributes greatly to the development of agriculture The monetary reform of 1428 contributed greatly to the development of retail trade in the country.
Mirzo Ulugbek has a high taste and knowledge in literature and art, and in collaboration with the most talented poets of his time: Sakkoki, Lutfi, Jami, Atoi, he raised this field to a high level.
Although Amir Ulugbek had a very rich library and manuscripts thanks to Amir Temur, he spent a lot of money to buy books for the palace libraries.
The decoration of the books also places great emphasis on the development of miniature art to enhance its art.
Folk art and crafts are mainly based on the unique skills of oriental masters.
Mirzo Ulugbek also pays great attention to the art of music. He is also a musician. During this period, talented musicians such as Darvesh Ahmad Qanuni, Sultan Ahmad, Sultan Muhammad, Hafizi Changini became very popular among the people.
Mirzo Ulugbek is doing a great job in turning Movarounnahr into a center of knowledge and enlightenment. In particular, the madrasas built in Bukhara in 1432, in Samarkand in 1417-1420, in Gijduvan in 1432-1433 are considered to be the most prestigious places of science.
Mirzo Ulugbek Madrasah in Samarkand was a perfect higher education institution of its time and served as a unique university.
The madrasah in Bukhara is the second most prestigious madrasah in Movarounnahr, with a hadith written by Ulugbek: "Striving for knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim."
The period of education in the madrasa lasted 8 years. During this period, students were given a monthly salary and a special payment called "Ulfa".
The Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory, built in 1424-28 in Samarkand, was one of the rare examples of XNUMXth-century architecture. According to Babur Mirza, the surface of the observatory was decorated with tiles and beautiful ornaments.
In addition to the quadrant, the Mirzo Ulugbek Observatory used several monitoring devices. Among them were instruments such as the armial sphere, the tricycle.
The information obtained by the scholars of the Mirzo Ulugbek school differed from them by the accuracy of the results achieved by the great scholars who lived centuries ago. Issues such as the ecliptic orbit, the calculation of the year of the star, the determination of the annual calculation of the planets, etc. Mirzo Ulugbek's catalog of stars was published in 1690 in the work of the Polish scientist Ian Gavelli (1611-1687) entitled "The Tree of Astronomy". 'The astronomical muse (goddess) sits first on the right side of Uranus around the garak table. On the back of his seat is the words, "I have left my work to worthy generations."
As in ancient Egypt, in the work of Jan Gavelli, the "Libra constellation" is a special symbol of justice.
The first European edition of Mirzo Ulugbek's Ziji was made by John Greaves, a professor at Oxford University. He wrote a commentary on the Zij and published a part of it in 1648.
The first director of the Greenwich Observatory, J. Flemstid, published Mirzo Ulugbek's Zij in 1725 in his History of Heaven.
Mirzo Ulugbek translated Zij from Persian into Georgian in 1724 by King Vakhtand VI of Georgia.
From the first days of his activity, the first academician-astronomer of the St. Petersburg Academy, Joseph Nicolae Delil, translated Ulugbek "Ziji" into Latin, and on June 1739, 25, he spoke about "Zij" in French at the St. Petersburg Academy. Mirzo Ulugbek's great reputation all over the world is reflected in the names of sky lights. A contemporary of Jan Gavelli, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Richchioli, proposed in 1651 to name the crater on the moon after the names of great scientists who lived in antiquity. One of the craters on the "shore" of the ocean of lunar storms is named after Mirzo Ulugbek. Among them are the craters of Ibn Sina and Ahmad Fergani.
The asteroid No. 1977 of the solar system, discovered in 2439, is named after Mirzo Ulugbek. Our scholar's "Zij" has been translated into many languages.
In India, great importance is attached to the scientific heritage of Ulugbek. In particular, in the first half of the XNUMXth century, by order of Baburi Muhammad Shah, observatories were built by astronomer Savay Jay Singh in Jaipur, Banoras and Delhi. The Samarkand School of Astronomy was modeled on the equipment.
During the reign of Mirzo Ulugbek, the world-class achievements of the Samarkand School of Astronomy had a great impact on the further development of Chinese astronomy. The Jesuit monk, the scientist Antoine Gobil (1689-1759), said of Chinese astronomy: "What the Chinese knew in this field, they all came from the West by Samarkand."
Through China, the achievements of the Samarkand Astronomical School have spread to Korea.
In 1432, King Yi Do of Korea visited the Samarkand School of Astronomy via China. At the same time, the traditions of the Ulugbek school are developing in Korea.
In 1470, Ali Kushchi traveled to Istanbul, where he widely promoted the results of Mirzo Ulugbek's scientific school.
Mirzo Ulugbek "Ziji" first of all has a great influence on the development of astronomy in Muslim countries.
The most complete commentary on Mirzo Ulugbek's "Zij" is "Sharji Ziji Ulugbek" written in 1523 by the Iranian astrologer and mathematician Nizamiddin Birjandi.
Cairo astrologer Muhammad Al-Misri (XNUMXth century) Mirzo Ulugbek wrote a book entitled Simplification of Ziji (Tashil Ziji Ulugbek) and adapted his tables to the latitudes of Cairo.
In our historical cities, such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Gijduvan, architectural monuments and shrines associated with his name have been repaired and improved.
It is noteworthy that the number of institutions and organizations named after Ulugbek is growing. In particular, the Samarkand State Institute of Architecture and Construction and the Fergana State Medical University were named after Ulugbek.
There is also a book observation station of international scientific significance and the Institute of Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan named after Ulugbek.
In 1992, one of the largest districts of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, was named after Mirzo Ulugbek and a statue of him was erected. There is a farm named after Ulugbek in Bekabad district of Tashkent region. In 1995, Tashkent State University was named after Mirzo Ulugbek.
During the years of independence, the study and recognition of the heritage of Mirzo Ulugbek has reached a new level. In 1994, the 600th anniversary of Ulugbek's birth was celebrated with great solemnity in Uzbekistan and at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. In connection with the proclamation of 2009 as the "Year of Astronomy" by the UN, the 615th anniversary of the birth of Mirzo Ulugbek was widely celebrated in Samarkand and Paris. In 2009, a new asteroid was discovered at the Maidanak Observatory, which was named Samarkand by the International Center for Asteroids in the United States. The great respect shown to our great ancestor in Uzbekistan is reflected in the final part of the museum exposition.

Leave a comment