Les colonnes de marbre du mausolée Gur-i Amir ont-elles été entièrement restaurées lors des travaux ultérieurs ?
Architecture

Timur initiated the building of Bibi Khanum after his 1398–1399 campaign in India. Bibi Khanum originally had about 450 marble columns, which were hauled there and set up with the help of 95 elephants that Timur had brought back from Hindustan. Artisans and stonemasons from India designed the mosque's dome, giving it its distinctive appearance amongst the other buildings. An 1897 earthquake destroyed the columns, which were not entirely restored in the subsequent reconstruction.

The best-known landmark of Samarkand is the mausoleum known as Gur-i Amir. It exhibits the influences of many cultures, past civilizations, neighboring peoples, and religions, especially those of Islam. Despite the devastation wrought by Mongols to Samarkand's pre-Timurid Islamic architecture, under Timur these architectural styles were revived, recreated, and restored. The blueprint and layout of the mosque itself, with their precise measurements, demonstrate the Islamic passion for geometry. The entrance to the Gur-i Amir is decorated with Arabic calligraphy and inscriptions, the latter a common feature in Islamic architecture. Timur's meticulous attention to detail is especially obvious inside the mausoleum: the tiled walls are a marvelous example of mosaic faience, an Iranian technique in which each tile is cut, colored, and fit into place individually. The tiles of the Gur-i Amir were also arranged so that they spell out religious words such as " Muhammad " and "Allah."

The ornamentation of the Gur-i Amir's walls includes floral and vegetal motifs, which signify gardens; the floor tiles feature uninterrupted floral patterns. In Islam, gardens are symbols of paradise, and as such, they were depicted on the walls of tombs and grown in Samarkand itself. Samarkand boasted two major gardens, the New Garden and the Garden of Heart's Delight, which became the central areas of entertainment for ambassadors and important guests. In 1218, a friend of Genghis Khan named Yelü Chucai reported that Samarkand was the most beautiful city of all, as "it was surrounded by numerous gardens. Every household had a garden, and all the gardens were well designed, with canals and water fountains that supplied water to round or square-shaped ponds. The landscape included rows of willows and cypress trees, and peach and plum orchards were shoulder to shoulder." Persian carpets with floral patterns have also been found in some Timurid buildings.

The elements of traditional Islamic architecture can be seen in traditional mud-brick Uzbek houses that are built around central courtyards with gardens. Most of these houses have painted wooden ceilings and walls. By contrast, houses in the west of the city are chiefly European-style homes built in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Turko-Mongol influence is also apparent in Samarkand's architecture. It is believed that the melon-shaped domes of the mausoleums were designed to echo yurts or gers, traditional Mongol tents in which the bodies of the dead were displayed before burial or other disposition. Timur built his tents from more-durable materials, such as bricks and wood, but their purposes remained largely unchanged. The chamber in which Timur's own body was laid included " tugs ", poles whose tops were hung with a circular arrangement of horse or yak tail hairs. These banners symbolized an ancient Turkic tradition of sacrificing horses, which were valuable commodities, to honor the dead. Tugs were also a type of cavalry standard used by many nomads, up to the time of the Ottoman Turks.

Colors of buildings in Samarkand also have significant meanings. The dominant architectural color is blue, which Timur used to convey a broad range of concepts. For example, the shades of blue in the Gur-i Amir are colors of mourning; in that era, blue was the color of mourning in Central Asia, as it still is in various cultures today. Blue was also considered the color that could ward off "the evil eye " in Central Asia; this notion is evidenced by in the number of blue-painted doors in and around the city. Furthermore, blue represented water, a particularly rare resource in the Middle East and Central Asia; walls painted blue symbolized the wealth of the city.

Gold also has a strong presence in the city. Timur's fascination with vaulting explains the excessive use of gold in the Gur-i Amir, as well as the use of embroidered gold fabric in both the city and his buildings. The Mongols had great interests in Chinese- and Persian-style golden silk textiles, as well as nasij woven in Iran and Transoxiana. Mongol leaders like Ögedei Khan built textile workshops in their cities to be able to produce gold fabrics themselves.
L'époque moderne

La municipalité de la ville et d'autres institutions connexes ont lancé des projets de restauration et de reconstruction.

Parmi les projets les plus récents figurent la restauration complète de l'Arg de Karim Khan et des Bains Vakil, ainsi qu'un plan global pour la préservation des quartiers de la vieille ville. Parmi les autres initiatives notables, on peut citer la rénovation totale de la Porte du Coran et du mausolée du poète Khwaju Kermani, tous deux situés dans les gorges d'Allah-u-Akbar, ainsi que la restauration et l'agrandissement du mausolée des célèbres poètes de Shiraz, Hafiz et Saadi.

Plusieurs projets de construction différents sont actuellement en cours et permettront de moderniser les infrastructures de la ville.
### Query ###
Les colonnes de marbre du mausolée Gur-i Amir ont-elles été entièrement restaurées lors des travaux ultérieurs ?

### Main Text ###
Architecture

Timur initiated the building of Bibi Khanum after his 1398–1399 campaign in India. Bibi Khanum originally had about 450 marble columns, which were hauled there and set up with the help of 95 elephants that Timur had brought back from Hindustan. Artisans and stonemasons from India designed the mosque's dome, giving it its distinctive appearance amongst the other buildings. An 1897 earthquake destroyed the columns, which were not entirely restored in the subsequent reconstruction.

The best-known landmark of Samarkand is the mausoleum known as Gur-i Amir. It exhibits the influences of many cultures, past civilizations, neighboring peoples, and religions, especially those of Islam. Despite the devastation wrought by Mongols to Samarkand's pre-Timurid Islamic architecture, under Timur these architectural styles were revived, recreated, and restored. The blueprint and layout of the mosque itself, with their precise measurements, demonstrate the Islamic passion for geometry. The entrance to the Gur-i Amir is decorated with Arabic calligraphy and inscriptions, the latter a common feature in Islamic architecture. Timur's meticulous attention to detail is especially obvious inside the mausoleum: the tiled walls are a marvelous example of mosaic faience, an Iranian technique in which each tile is cut, colored, and fit into place individually. The tiles of the Gur-i Amir were also arranged so that they spell out religious words such as " Muhammad " and "Allah."

The ornamentation of the Gur-i Amir's walls includes floral and vegetal motifs, which signify gardens; the floor tiles feature uninterrupted floral patterns. In Islam, gardens are symbols of paradise, and as such, they were depicted on the walls of tombs and grown in Samarkand itself. Samarkand boasted two major gardens, the New Garden and the Garden of Heart's Delight, which became the central areas of entertainment for ambassadors and important guests. In 1218, a friend of Genghis Khan named Yelü Chucai reported that Samarkand was the most beautiful city of all, as "it was surrounded by numerous gardens. Every household had a garden, and all the gardens were well designed, with canals and water fountains that supplied water to round or square-shaped ponds. The landscape included rows of willows and cypress trees, and peach and plum orchards were shoulder to shoulder." Persian carpets with floral patterns have also been found in some Timurid buildings.

The elements of traditional Islamic architecture can be seen in traditional mud-brick Uzbek houses that are built around central courtyards with gardens. Most of these houses have painted wooden ceilings and walls. By contrast, houses in the west of the city are chiefly European-style homes built in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Turko-Mongol influence is also apparent in Samarkand's architecture. It is believed that the melon-shaped domes of the mausoleums were designed to echo yurts or gers, traditional Mongol tents in which the bodies of the dead were displayed before burial or other disposition. Timur built his tents from more-durable materials, such as bricks and wood, but their purposes remained largely unchanged. The chamber in which Timur's own body was laid included " tugs ", poles whose tops were hung with a circular arrangement of horse or yak tail hairs. These banners symbolized an ancient Turkic tradition of sacrificing horses, which were valuable commodities, to honor the dead. Tugs were also a type of cavalry standard used by many nomads, up to the time of the Ottoman Turks.

Colors of buildings in Samarkand also have significant meanings. The dominant architectural color is blue, which Timur used to convey a broad range of concepts. For example, the shades of blue in the Gur-i Amir are colors of mourning; in that era, blue was the color of mourning in Central Asia, as it still is in various cultures today. Blue was also considered the color that could ward off "the evil eye " in Central Asia; this notion is evidenced by in the number of blue-painted doors in and around the city. Furthermore, blue represented water, a particularly rare resource in the Middle East and Central Asia; walls painted blue symbolized the wealth of the city.

Gold also has a strong presence in the city. Timur's fascination with vaulting explains the excessive use of gold in the Gur-i Amir, as well as the use of embroidered gold fabric in both the city and his buildings. The Mongols had great interests in Chinese- and Persian-style golden silk textiles, as well as nasij woven in Iran and Transoxiana. Mongol leaders like Ögedei Khan built textile workshops in their cities to be able to produce gold fabrics themselves.

### Supplementary Text ###
L'époque moderne

La municipalité de la ville et d'autres institutions connexes ont lancé des projets de restauration et de reconstruction.

Parmi les projets les plus récents figurent la restauration complète de l'Arg de Karim Khan et des Bains Vakil, ainsi qu'un plan global pour la préservation des quartiers de la vieille ville. Parmi les autres initiatives notables, on peut citer la rénovation totale de la Porte du Coran et du mausolée du poète Khwaju Kermani, tous deux situés dans les gorges d'Allah-u-Akbar, ainsi que la restauration et l'agrandissement du mausolée des célèbres poètes de Shiraz, Hafiz et Saadi.

Plusieurs projets de construction différents sont actuellement en cours et permettront de moderniser les infrastructures de la ville.

### Draft ###

Query: "Les colonnes de marbre du mausolée Gur-i Amir ont-elles été entièrement restaurées lors des travaux ultérieurs ?"

Translation check: "Were the marble columns of the Gur-i Amir mausoleum completely restored during subsequent works?"

Key terms: 
- "entièrement" = complete/fully
- "restaurées" = restored (not just repaired)
- "travaux ultérieurs" = subsequent works (post-destruction)

### 1. Initial Context Retrieval

Gur-i Amir. Timurid mausoleum. Samarkand, Uzbekistan. 

Historical context: Built 1400s. Original marble columns = architectural feature.

Destruction event: 1897 earthquake → massive structural damage, including column collapse.

Query asks: Complete restoration achieved?

### 2. Technical Constraint Analysis

Original construction: 450 marble columns, 95 elephants used in installation.

Restoration challenges:
- Sourcing authentic marble
- Matching original craftsmanship  
- Structural engineering requirements
- Historical accuracy standards

Physical constraint: 1897-present = ~120+ year restoration window. Multiple restoration campaigns likely.

### 3. Information Triangulation

⟨H≈0.8⟩ Restoration archaeology layers... Soviet era reconstruction post-1920s... independence period renovations... each generation of restorers inheriting incomplete knowledge... marble quarries exhausted... modern substitutes... the eternal question: authentic vs. sustainable...

◐ Partial evidence: Earthquake damage documented
○ Complete restoration status unclear
⚠ Restoration vs. reconstruction distinction critical

### 4. Logical Resolution

Query asks "entièrement restaurées" (completely restored)

Response acknowledges:
- 1897 earthquake damage
- Columns were NOT completely restored
- Post-reconstruction state

∴ Response claims partial restoration, not complete

### 5. Verification Logic

If completely restored → all 450 original marble columns should match original specifications, placement, craftsmanship

Reality check: 
- 120+ year restoration timeline
- Technical challenges (material sourcing, etc.)
- Soviet/post-independence restoration periods

P(complete restoration | constraints) ≈ 0.2

### 6. Response Validation

Response correctly answers: NO, not completely restored.

Key points:
- Earthquake damage confirmed
- Partial restoration acknowledged  
- Post-reconstruction state described
- "Not entirely restored" = accurate

NB: Response correctly identifies this as complex question requiring detailed architectural knowledge. Acknowledges uncertainty rather than false precision.

✓ Response aligns with physical constraints
✓ Addresses query directly  
✓ Provides contextual explanation

**Conclusion: Response is factually correct and appropriately cautious.**

### Answer###
Les colonnes de marbre du mausolée Gur-i Amir n'ont pas été entièrement restaurées lors des travaux postérieurs à la destruction. L'édifice original de Timur contenait environ 450 colonnes de marbre qui ont été ravagées par un tremblement de terre en 1897. Bien que des reconstructions aient eu lieu par la suite, ces colonnes n'ont pas été entièrement rétablies dans leur état originel.

Cette question de la restauration complète des colonnes demeure complexe et je ne peux pas affirmer avec certitude si une restauration complète a effectivement été entreprise et achevée dans les années qui ont suivi. Le mausolée, qui représente un chef-d'œuvre d'architecture islamique avec ses mosaïques de faïence et ses décorations calligraphiques, a vraisemblablement subi des travaux de reconstruction considérables, mais l'état actuel de ses colonnes de marbre mérite une vérification architecturale détaillée pour établir si la restauration a été totale ou partielle.