The most beautiful religious buildings Khorezm Area

From the outside, nothing, or almost nothing, allows us to guess the grandiose character of the Friday mosque. The monotony of a long blind wall is interrupted by an imposing double door made of finely crafted wood. A slender minaret, 33 m high, dominates the ensemble. The interior is more than surprising: a forest of carved wooden columns supports the ceiling of the mosque. Each pillar seems to have its own story, one of the most famous being the one from India. Its decoration is abstract, as is Islam, but one can nevertheless guess a human representation. By taking the time to study the various ornamentations, one can discover Zoroastrian symbols, representations of the Buddha, etc. Wealthy pilgrims or merchants who came to Khiva to do business sometimes offered the mosque a column carved in the style of their city, which would replace another column that was too old. The oldest, about fifteen in all, date from the 10th and 11th centuries. In total, the mosque has 213 columns, all of different ages and designs. The architecture of the Juma Mosque corresponds to the style of the first mosques that were gathering places. It commented on the Koran, but also discussed other issues relating to the organization of the social life of believers. The mihrab is placed in the centre of the huge hall 55 m long and 45 m wide. The light enters through two octagonal openings in the ceiling.

Located outside the madrasah, at the eastern corner of its façade, Kalta Minor was to be the highest minaret in the Muslim world, rising to 70 m. An architectural challenge for the time, but above all a height that was never reached, the work having been abandoned after the death of the khan when the minaret barely reached 29m. According to legend, the Khan of Bukhara, learning of the project from his rival Khiva and not being able to suffer from living in the shadow of a minaret larger than the Kalon minaret (it was said that when it was completed, Bukhara could be seen from its summit), planned to have the architect removed so that he could come and erect an even larger minaret in his city. What he learned, and so that his knowledge would benefit no one else, Khiva's khan decided to assassinate the architect as soon as his work was completed. As the Bukhara Khan matured the same project, the architect finally fled without asking for the rest, and the minaret remained forever truncated. The "short minaret" therefore only rises to 29 m, leaving the title of highest minaret in Bukhara: the Kalon minaret measures 49 m! The Kalta Minor nevertheless rests on a wide 14 m base, and is entirely and superbly decorated with green and blue majolica married to the distinctive green of Khiva. It is not usually possible to go up there, as the place is closed to tourists, but you can try your luck with the staff of the Orient Star Hotel, which has opened in the adjoining madrasah.

Opposite the entrance to the palace, on the other side of the square is the madrasah of the poet khan, known under the pseudonym of Ferouz. The huge portal of the madrasa opens onto a first courtyard surrounded by a floor of cells, an area for traders. The construction follows a square plan, but is characterized by a vaulted passage with 8 domes, the largest in Khiva. Through a second portal, the first courtyard leads to the interior of the madrasa, which houses a museum dedicated to Ferouz.

The highest minaret of Khiva (44.50 m) was built in 1910 by the vizier of Isfandiar Khan, Islam Khodja. It is one of the last Islamic architectural achievements in Central Asia. The minaret had a triple role: religious (the muezzin calls for prayer), military (like the Kalon minaret of Bukhara, it is an ideal observation post to prevent frequent attacks) and that of being an ideal landmark so that one does not get lost in the desert or ... in a city full of meanders. Its slender shape and colourful rings narrowing towards the top would almost make it appear taller than the Kalon Minaret, although it still yields to it nearly 4 m. To have Khiva at your feet and a view of the surrounding desert, take a breath, the minaret has 120 steps. The Islam Khodja Madrasa, built in 1908, is small in size, only the façade has two levels to harmonize with the powerful minaret. The Wazir Islam Khodja was a reformer, but he had the misfortune of serving Isfandiar Khan with a sulphurous reputation. He still managed to build a hospital, to have the telegraph installed in Khiva, but was assassinated when he tried to reform the education system. The madrasa now houses the Museum of Applied Arts where woodwork, carpets, hangings, etc. are on display

Turning right after the minaret leads to a street parallel to the main street, leading to the Pakhlavan Makhmoud Mausoleum.

Pakhlavan Makhmoud (1247-1325) is the patron saint of the city. He was an outstanding character: a furrier of his state, he was also an outstanding wrestler, a great warrior and a poet. Coming from the Kungrad tribe, he is considered the spiritual founder of the dynasty. His tomb was built on the site of his furrier's workshop, and in 1810 he was included in the dynastic mausoleum of the khans kungrad. While the first mausoleum was modest in appearance, it was not until the 19th century that it acquired its present appearance. A high portal leads to an inner courtyard overlooked by the khanaka topped by a drum and a turquoise-blue dome, a summer mosque and annex buildings housing the tombs of the mother and son of Isfandiar Khan. In the courtyard there is also a well where newlyweds wishing to have a child come to drink. The majolica that decorates the interior of the khanaka is breathtakingly beautiful. The walls and the dome are entirely covered with blue and white vegetal arabesques in which are inserted poems by Pakhlavan Makhmoud. These majolica were made by the famous Abdullah Djinn. The tomb of Pakhlavan Makhmud is located in an adjoining room to the left of the main hall. Pilgrims come to gather in front of the openwork gate that protects his tomb. The tombs of Khans Abdul Gazi (1663), Anucha (1681) and Muhammad Rakhim are placed in the khanaka.

It appears as a village of isolated white houses in the desert at the foot of a mountain. Photogenic image at will creating already a mysterious atmosphere conducive to the visit of the site. A vast cemetery surrounds the mausoleum of Sultan Uvays Bobo, a giant who was said to measure no less than 12 metres! The locals can take you to the nearby Sultan Uvays Mountains to show you his footprints. It is a famous place of pilgrimage that has kept an atmosphere out of time. Feel free to go there during the Navruz period.

To the west, the Koutloug Mourad Inak madrasa, built between 1804 and 1812, under the reign of the eponymous khan, by the grandfather of Allah Kouli khan. Khan Koutloug Mourad Inak wanted to be buried in his madrasah, but death surprised him while he was in Dichan kala, the outer city. Since the law forbids the entry of the dead into the inner city, Allah Kuli Khan found a solution by tearing down the city walls that separated the madrasah from the outer city. There was no longer any reason why the khan should not be buried in the vestibule of his madrasah. It was Khiva's first madrasah with two floors of cells. Another special feature is that it is built on top of another madrasa dating from 1688: the Khodjamberdibi Madrasa, which, during the new construction, was converted and renamed Khujum. The domes and the gate were removed, and a passage was drilled through the middle of it. It now serves as a terrace at the gate of the Koutloug Mourad Inak madrasa. The arches of the cells are visible at the front of the great madrasah. The large underground well located in his courtyard supplied pure water to the entire inner city. Today the children come to fetch the banknotes that the pilgrims threw there and no one drinks any more of its water. In season, a puppeteer offers his little show to tourists for whom a few benches have been set up in the courtyard.

The Allah Kouli Khan madrasa was built in 1834 opposite the Koutloug Mourad Inak madrasa, forming the traditional couple of kosh madrasas. One of the largest in the city, it housed Khiva's library. At that time, Allah Kouli Khan wanted to completely reorganize the eastern entrance of the city. He had the inner city wall demolished and a whole complex of commercial and religious buildings erected, thus moving the centre of the city to the vicinity of the Tash Khauli Palace. The new complex included a huge caravanserai, a covered market, baths as well as a madrasah and a mosque. The caravanserai was turned into a supermarket by the Soviets. A curiosity! It opens onto a 14-dome timer. A gallery with 6 domes runs along the Allah Kouli Khan Madrasa and leads to Palvan Darvosa, the east gate, which opens to the outer city and the bazaar. The Allah Kouli Khan Madrasa is only really interesting because of its majestic deep blue portal. Inside, around a rectangular courtyard measuring 30 m by 34 m, the cells are spread over two floors, as in the Koutloug Mourad Inak madrasa.

Located east of the Friday Mosque, the Abdullah Khan Madrasa was built in honour of the 17-year-old Khan, who died fighting the Turkmen, after a short reign of five months. The madrasa houses a Natural History Museum, and each of its cells is arranged around a theme: cotton, silk, fruit... The museum also presents a rich collection of stuffed animals, including birds and reptiles. Facing the madrasah, the Ak mosque, built in 1838, was built on foundations dating back to the middle of the 17th century.

Built in 1851, during the reign of Khan Mohammed Amin, it was one of the largest madrasas in Central Asia, with a square courtyard of 38 m on each side for a building measuring a total of 72 m by 60 m. A construction in the image of the khan, Khiva's most illustrious ruler: he conquered Merv and imposed his law on the warring Tekke before dying beheaded in a battle on the Iranian border, leaving Khiva open to nomadic attacks for the next decades. To make way for the impressive building, part of the fortification walls had to be demolished. The one hundred and twenty-five cells on two levels housed two hundred and sixty students until 1924. The tympanums of the high portal and of the two storeys of cells on the façade are decorated with blue majolica motifs. The construction of the madrasa offered Soviet historians an illustration of the class struggle under the khans. Indeed, after two years of exhausting work, the workers, who, of course, received no money, revolted: most of them being peasants, they could no longer look after their fields and famine was looming. The revolt was suppressed the Khivian way: Matiakoub, the leader of the rebellion, was wrapped in a wet animal skin and buried alive under the foundations of the minaret. The recent history of the madrasah is not necessarily more cheerful, since the Soviets turned it into a prison in the 1930s and 1940s.

Built in 1726, it houses the Museum of Medicine dedicated to Avicenna and Al-Khorezmi. Above the entrance, an inscription states: "I accept death at the hands of slaves. "It was engraved after the death of Shirgazi Khan inside the madrasah. He had used Persian slaves and Russian prisoners to build this madrasa, promising them a freedom he never gave them. One day when he came to supervise the work, the overworked slaves stoned him to death with bricks.