KALTA MINOR OR "SHORT MINARET"

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.