Front Entrance, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Samarkand, Uzbekistan one of the most important monuments of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. In the 15th century, it was one of the largest and most magnificent mosques in the Islamic world. It is considered a masterpiece of the Timurid Renaissance. Samarqand, is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. There is evidence of human activity in the area of the city from the late Paleolithic Era, but the city itself was fully established by the 8 cnetury BCE. Prospering from its location on the Silk Road between China and Europe, at times Samarkand was one of the largest cities of Central Asia. The city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BCE, when it was known as Markanda 3D model made in Reality Capture using a combination of terrestrial and drone-based images and laser scan data.