SAMARKAND

Part of the ruin of the huge Bibi Khanum Mosquie - built from 1399 to 1404 - It was 110 yards wisde by 153 yards long and one of the largest in the world, but the building construction methods - mortar - were insufficient - it decayed and then suffered in an earthquake in 1897. The cupola dome was 66 feet in diameter, and 118 feet high. There are other smaller mosques in the complex. And across the road is the Bibi Khanum mausoleum. But Bibi Khanum herself is probably a myth.