Having made Samarkand the showpiece of his empire, Emperor Tamerlane launched an ambitious architectural project in his birthplace, Shakhrisabz. It was to be a monumental palace whose dimensions surpassed even those of the gigantic Bibi-Khanym Mosque. The Emir of Bukhara had the palace destroyed in the 16C, but the two cylindrical towers of the portal, which still stand more than 40m high in the centre of the city, reflect Tamerlane's excesses.