Samarkand 2022

Conference venue: The El Merosi theatre near the city centre in Samarkand.

Conference organizers, from left: Nick Campion, Frances Clynes, Karine Dilanian and Armida Nazaryan.

Friday morning 21 Oct 2022 and the conference registration is now open.

Nick Campion opening the conference and giving a welcome speech. Karine Dilanian translates to Russian.

Darrel Rutkin online from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Gregor (sitting at left) translating from English to Russian on the fly - quite impressing.

Ulla Koch from the University of Copenhagen on Jupiter and the Assyrian King. The talk was translated by Karine Dilanian on the fly.

Dinner at El Merosi's neighbour, the restaurant HanZade

El Merosi's western style cafe. An Americano at 20,000 SOM = 2 Euros (Dollars).

Liana Saif from the University of Amsterdam on "The Pseudo-Aristotelian Hermetica's Astrological Cycles: Sources and Influences".

Saturday morning 22 Oct coffee break between lectures.

Coffee break with lots of tempting pastries.

Oleg Lushnikov...

Aleksey Arapov online on Mihmat Bulatov and the reconstruction of how Ulugbek's observatory was constructed. On the drawing at the left can be seen the huge sextant inside the building. What remains today is only the submerged part of the sextant.

Lunch at HanZade, the restaurant neighbouring El Merosi.

On the programme for Saturday afternoon was a visit to the Ulugbek Observatory in the outskirts of central Samarkand. Here's a photo of the group at the statue of Ulugbek.

The observatory is believed to have been built in the 1420s: a round building about 46 meters in diameter, 30 meters tall. It was demolished and almost forgotten until excavated in 1908.

The central part of the observatory is aligned to an axis north to south. The black part between the two end walls is the roundy roof protecting what's left of the large sextant. The low, circular wall indicates the extent of the original, round observatory building.

The southern end of the observatory. In the background to the left is the entrance to the observatory museum.

This photo shows what's left of the huge sextant. The size and accuracy of the sextant (quadrant) enabled Ulughbeg to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis to 23.52 grader, very close to modern calculations.

What is left of the sextant is this 11 meter long arc besides the foundations themselves.

Time for a group photo in front of the observatory museum.

A model of what the original observatory building may have looked like.

An "Armillary Sphere".

An "Armillary Sphere".

A 17th century astrolabe.

Oleg Lushnikov seems to be holding the astrolabe.

Steven Vanden Broecke making studies.

At left, two of the conference speakers, Vladimir Emelianov and Eugeny Pchelov.

Armida Nazaryan conducting a guided tour in the observatory museum - she was in fact a very competent and excellent tour guide.

Emelianov and Pchelov; Emelianov seems to be enjoying the visit, sitting in the sun.

Ikromiddin Sirojiddinov, Karine Dilanian and Nick Campion debating.

Sunday was the last day of the conference with more talks and questions from delegates.

How to make the most of the conference: lean back, relax and enjoy the talks - we love it!

Final group photo.

Conference dinner Sunday evening.

They know how to cook good food in Uzbekistan.