All for Love
What’s the Craziest Thing You Did for Love? When people see the Bibi‑Khanym Mosque in Samarkand for the first time, they often reach for a familiar story. A powerful man. A beautiful woman. A monumental building raised in devotion. The comparison comes easily: Isn’t this Central Asia’s Taj Mahal? Was this Timur’s grand romantic gesture to his beloved wife? It’s an understandable assumption—and a deeply misleading one. The truth is far more practical, far less romantic, and ultimately revealing about how power, gender, and architecture actually worked in the Timurid world. Who Was Bibi‑Khanym, Really? To begin with, “Bibi‑Khanym” was not a personal name at all. It was a title— Great Lady , Senior Princess —used to denote rank. The woman behind it was Saray Mulk Khanum , the chief wife of Timur (Tamerlane), ruler of a vast empire stretching across Central Asia, Persia, and beyond. Saray Mulk Khanum mattered not because she was beloved, but because she was legitimate . S...
