Not far beyond the observatory on the Tashkent road there
is an unusual shrine to Chupan-Ata, mythical patron of shepherds. With
a cupola on
a high, slender drum, decorated with a kufic inscription in coloured tiles,
it looks like a mausoleum, but no-one is buried here. It was built around
1440 expressly as a place of pilgrimage in what was then a park laid out
around one of Tamerlane's many palaces, none of which survive.
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