UZBEKISTAN // Even in Islam's competitive  repertoire of important-looking mosques  and glittering medressas (Islamic schools),  Samarkand's Registan square stands out. It's  an ensemble of majestic, tilting medressas  and mosques - a near overload of majolica,  azure mosaics and vast, well-proportioned  spaces - that make up the most awesome  sight in Central Asia. These beleaguered  treasures have been battered by time and  earthquakes, but their incredible craftwork  and restoration under Soviet rule have kept  them standing. Lovers of symmetry will  be bowled over by the exquisite edifices  flanking three sides of the square, which in  medieval times would have been wall-to-wall  bazaar. Ulugbek Medressa, on the west, was  the first finished in 1420. Opposite is Sher  Dor (Lion) Medressa, finished in 1636 and  decorated with roaring felines. In between  is the Tilla-Kari (Gold-Covered) Medressa,  completed in 1660 with a mosque decorated  with gold, to symbolise Samarkand's wealth  at the time it was built.