ABSTRACT
Situated in the midst of the great Asian land sea, and historically linked to the empires of East, West and South by the trade corridors commonly referred to as the Silk Road, the modern Central Asian republics have for millennia been a nexus of exchange, diversity, innovation and conict.1 Successive rulers have long grappled for this politically pivotal region, and in so doing left behind the prevailing ideas, religions, institutions and aesthetics of their respective cultures – be they Greek, Persian, Mongol, Turkish or Soviet. At the same time, the region supported numerous, highly sophisticated urban centers for centuries such as Nisa, Samarkand, Merv and Khiva. These cities cultivated and emanated their own inuential ideas in science, religion and medicine far beyond their borders. The steady ow of commerce and people on the various trade routes nurtured this rich mélange, and created oases of wealth and architectural expression in these landlocked nations that today constitute many of the heritage sites and cities of the newly independent countries of Central Asia.
