gives an amazing expressiveness to the cupola. During the reign of Ulugh Beg a doorway was made to provide an entrance into the mausoleum. Inwardly the mausoleum appears as a large, high chamber with deep niches at the sides and diverse decoration. The lower part of the walls covered are by onyx slabs composed as one panel. Each of these slabs is decorated with refined paintings. Above the panel there is a marble stalactite cornice. Large expanses of the walls are decorated with painted plaster; the arches and the internal dome are ornamented by high-relief papier-mache cartouches, gilded and painted. The ornate carved headstones in the inner room of the mausoleum merely indicate the location of the actual tombs in a crypt directly underneath the main chamber. Under Ulugh Beg's government a solid block of dark green jade was placed over the grave of Tamerlane. Formerly this stone had been used at a place of worship in the Chinese emperor's palace, then as the throne of Duwa (a descendant of Genghis Khan) in Chagatay Khanate. Next to Tamerlane's grave lie the marble tombstones of his sons Miran Shah and Shah Rukh and also of grandsons – Muhammad Sultan and Ulugh Beg. Tamerlane's spiritual teacher Mir Said Baraka, also rests here. Subsequent history In 1740, king Nader Shah of the Afsharid Empire tried to carry away Tamerlane's sarcophagus. Nader idolized Timur. He imitated Timur's military prowess and, later in his reign, Timur's cruelty, but in the process of removal the sarcophagus broke in two. This was interpreted as a bad omen. His advisers urged him to return the stone to its rightful place. Unfortunately, after the end of 17th century Samarkand suffered a long period of decline. The city lost the status of capital which transferred to Bukhara. The great Silk Road bypassed the city and its great historical monuments stood empty and forgotten. Only after the Second World War did extensive restoration work in Gur-Emir begin. In the 1950s the dome, main portal and minarets were refurbished. By that time the majolica tiles had mostly fallen away. In the 1970s, the restoration of the interior was undertaken. Neither the Madrasah nor the Khanaka of initial Muhammad Sultan's complex were reconstructed at that time. With the resurgence of the interest in Tamerlane after the founding of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1991, care of his places of worship has intensified. Tamerlane's