I visited this WHS in June 2017. The 'iconic' picture with Timur standing between what is left of the Ak Saray Complex (14th century - top left photo) is the starting point of most visits from tourists and locals alike. All the sites of this inscription have recently been resprayed in a golden colour with black letters. Unfortunately (or deliberately?), the UNESCO symbols on each sign are barely visible as they have not been filled in with black. Perhaps this was done on purpose, knowing that the site could be be delisted or else it's a coincidence. The mosaics and turquoise tiles with Koranic script on the remains of the palace (which used to be higher than the Kalyan minaret in Bukhara!) are worth the effort to get here. All the sites are now in a sort of open-air museum/garden with a partially reconstructed wall on one side and the panoramic mountain landscape in the distance.

From Ak Saray to the other cluster of sites, I took a small electric cart (just a few som) instead of walking in the desert-like heat. The next stop was at the Dor At-Tilyavat Complex with the Kok-Gumbaz or Blue Dome (bottom right photo), a madrasah, marble tombs, and the mausoleum of Shams Ad-Din Kulyal. After that, I visited Dor-As Siadat or House of Power with its peculiar conical shaped dome (bottom left photo) which is now surrounded by a well-kept garden with places to sit down in the shade (top right photo). It's interior blue tiles are worth visiting. Opposite this site, there is the intricately carved crypt of Amir Temur with a huge stone sarcophagus. Next to it there is the Hazreti-Imam Mosque still used as a district mosque nowadays. Just a short walk away is the Chorsu, a large medieval trading construction or covered market quite similar to the Chorsu trading passage in Samarkand and the trading constructions with domes in Bukhara and Khiva.

Even though the destruction of the 19th and 20th century buildings was heavily criticised during this year's WHC, I still believe that this WHS should remain on the WH list. The few Timurid remains are not comparable to Uzbekistan's 'big 3' (Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand) but they are still better than the ones in Turkmenistan or other tentative sites along the Silk routes. Moreover, in my opinion the OUV of these sites lies in the Timurid remains and NOT the 19th-20th century buildings. The same is true in Samarkand - almost nobody visits the more modern inscribed sites and I don't blame them either.

Shakhrisyabz already receives far less tourists than the other WHS in Uzbekistan and it is the only one not connected to the efficient railway system. I'm not in any way justifying what Uzbekistan did, but in my opinion it would be a pity to delist Shakhrisyabz and in the long run it might contribute to further concentrating 'crowds' on the Samarkand-Khiva axis.