The Bibi Khanym Mosque is a Congregationalist mosque, masjid-i jami` in Persian, built by Emperor Timur-i Leng between 1399 and 1404 in Samarkand, today in Uzbekistan . Emperor Timur remarkably expanded his small tribe into the Timurid dynasty, which lasted from 1370 to 1507. Timur displayed great leadership skills and was also interested in architecture. The results of his artistic interests are particularly visible in Samarkand, the capital of the Timurids during the reign of Timur, where art, architecture and culture flourished. The Bibi Khanum illustrates the vision that Timur had for Samarkand due to the dominant and massive nature of the monument. Although today the mosque looks different from the time of the Timurid dynasty due to renovations carried out over the years, the Bibi Khanum remains a testament to the incredible and intricate architecture of the time. The Bibi Khanum Congregational Mosque is an exceptional example of Timur's grandiose building style and incredible embellishments expressed throughout the Timurid dynasty. Timur managed to extend his rule from India to Anatolia before choosing Samarkand as his capital, which would soon become recognized as a center for arts among the Timurids. Tamerlane, the name by which Timur was known in Europe, is derived from his Persian name, Timur-i Leng. The word Timur means "iron" in Turkish, which suited him as he rose from the leader of a small Turko-Mongol tribe to become the ruler of an expanding empire. Timur was born in 1336 in Shahr-i-Sabz, that is to say "the Green City", located about fifty kilometers south of Samarkand. He was the son of a chief of the Barlas tribe, one of several Turko-Mongol tribes. Although he was injured in his right leg in his mid-twenties, an event that constituted an ambitious construction project initiated during his reign and which is still relevant today. Timur aimed to overtake the Mongol Empire and dominate the entire Islamic world. Setting up his capital in Samarkand, Timur established the center of art and culture where many of his beautiful works were built. The Timurid world was characterized by an increasing elaboration of geometric designs, as seen in the Bibi Khanum Mosque. As Golombek and Subtelny note, decorative veneer "applied over a more extensive surface than ever before in Islamic architecture characterizes Timurid architecture." Unfortunately, once completed, the monument began to collapse, but by the 1990s the Soviets had largely rebuilt the mosque. However, the Bibi Khanum Mosque remains an astonishing vision of the aspirations of the great Emperor Timur and a step back in time to the Timurid dynasty..