Monuments to visit Khiva

For more than a thousand years, several palaces were periodically destroyed and rebuilt in the same place. The oldest building still standing is the Ak Sheik Bobo Tower, dating from the 12th century. In the 17th century, Arang Khan, the son of Anusha Khan, built around the ruins of this fortified tower a throne room and the walls protecting the palace from outside and inside the city. But it was under Altuzar Khan, the founder of the Kungrad dynasty at the beginning of the 19th century, that the construction of the present palace began. It included several inner courtyards where the mosque, the guard, the chancellery, the throne room, the mint and the harem were located. The empty space behind the large gates of the palace once included various courtyards. In the first one, the visitors were in the antechamber, in the second one was the guard, then came the chancellery. To the right of this large courtyard is the Summer Mosque (1838). Its immense iwan with six columns and walls covered with blue majolica is of breathtaking beauty: glazed tiles with vegetal arabesques and geometric designs made by renowned 19th century master craftsmen Abdullah and Ibadulla Djinn.

The Mint, located at the end of the inner courtyard, is now transformed into a museum. In the 19th century, working in finance in Khiva had little to do with the life of a golden boy. In order that their knowledge might not disperse, those who minted the coins there were prisoners in the old citadel, and did not come out until after their death. It is in the second inner courtyard, Kurinish Khana, built in 1804, that the khan received his subjects under the shelter of high walls. The throne room itself consists of a long empty room with high ceilings. The silver-leaf veneered wooden throne in the large niche at the back of the room was unfortunately "emigrated" to Russia. Carved and gilded gantch (wood) panels decorate the walls and the ceiling is also richly decorated with polychrome geometric patterns.

The two-column iwan, open to the north to take advantage of the cooler winds during the warmer months, is decorated with majolica in cool colours made with cobalt powder for blue or copper for green. The ceiling, on the other hand, is decorated with warm colours, yellow and red, Zoroastrian symbols of sun and fire. The sun or stars, often symbolized on the ceilings, consecrate the khan as an intermediary between earth and sky, thus God. The wooden doors as well as the columns are entirely carved. Their flared and hollowed base allowed them to be driven onto their marble or wooden base, insulating the wood from the stone with camel's wool, which was said to have anti-seismic properties. Some say that this iwan was the harem, but the women's apartments were actually in the northern part of Kounia Ark. Built at the end of the 19th century by Muhamad Rakhim Khan II, they are unfortunately closed to the public. From the interior of Kounia Ark, a small staircase leads to Ak-Cheikh-Bobo, "the tower of the white sheik", built in the 12th century and so named in memory of the sheik who lived there in the 14th century. At the same time royal residence, guard tower and watchtower, it offers, from its iwan on the upper floor, a panoramic view.

Its five high, single-column iwans open onto a long inner courtyard lined with a string of summer and winter apartments. Five iwans: one for the khan and the other four for each of his wives... The figure has made several generations of tourists dream, but it is very classic and does not take into account the captives who lived in bulk in the rooms surrounding the courtyard. The apartments of the khan and his wives all have the same architecture: a high iwan open to the northeast, to avoid the baking sunlight of the summer months, and a small adjoining room that is supposed to keep a bearable temperature during the winter months. The slaves and family members of the khan's women lived in the rooms and small iwans lining the courtyard. The ensemble was decorated by the best craftsmen of the time, whose talent seems to have been evident in all parts of the construction: neither the openwork windows of the winter rooms, nor the finely chiselled wooden columns, nor the wooden coffers of the ceilings painted with geometric motifs. The walls of the iwans, entirely decorated with blue and white majolica, are due to the master craftsman Abdullah Djinn who also built the Ark Mosque. The stylistic resemblance is obviously striking, but the proportions are more important here. The walls of the iwans are painted in cool colours while the ceilings are painted in warm colours. At the end of the harem is a room with a ceiling supported by ten wooden columns.

" The doors of the Father ", or doors to the west, were the main doors of the city. They had a bazaar and also hosted the changers. Destroyed in 1920, they were restored by the Soviets in 1975. It is usually by these doors that tourists begin their visit to the old town and buy tickets that give them access to all monuments inside (except access to minarets and watch towers).

It was built, about ten years before the arrival of the Bolsheviks, by Muhammad Rahim Khan, known as Ferouz. The marriage of oriental styles with the luxury of St. Petersburg is striking and testifies to the fascination exerted on the last khans by the sumptuous life of the tsars. The palace, entirely enclosed by walls, consists of a large garden in the north-west quarter, a vast reception hall, official lounges, the khan's apartments: in total, more than a hundred rooms, galleries in all directions, courtyards lined with iwan..

This is the oldest monument in Khiva. A mausoleum with dome and portal was built in the early 14th century around the tomb of Sufi sheik Said Alauddin who died in 1303. A ziatkhona, a small room through which one reaches the tomb, was added to it under Allah Kouli khan in the 19th century. The tomb covered with majolica with blue and white vegetal motifs is the work of Amir Kulal, a ceramist from Bukhara. Despite the presence of two graves, only one body lies in the tomb

the "Father's Gates", or western gates, were the main gates of the city. They housed a bazaar and also hosted money changers. Destroyed in 1920, they were restored in 1975 by the Soviets along with the walls on both sides. It is generally by these very photogenic doors, with their adobe brick towers enhancing the turquoise ceramics of the Kalta minor, the "short minaret", located just behind, that the tourists begin their visit of the old city and buy the tickets.

" The doors of Pierre ", or gates of the south, built in 1830 by Alla Kuli Khan. Arrival point of caravans coming from the Caspian Sea. The place is often deserted today, offering an amazing spectacle, especially in low season.

On the right as you enter the Tash Khauli Palace, a corridor leads to the courtroom, or ishrat khauli. The black coach on display at the end of the corridor is a gift from Nicholas II to his eastern vassal, Khiva's last khan, Asfandiar Khan. He was suffering from a shameful illness and his doctor, who was supposed to be in charge of him, told him that the only way to cure himself was to eat virgins... He used to travel around town in this carriage, which the inhabitants had nicknamed "the black death". The courtroom is a square courtyard flanked to the south by a one-column iwan with decorations just as admirable as those of the harem, still the work of Abdullah Djinn, the genius who also decorated the Pakhlavan Makhmoud mausoleum.

Two places for yurts made it possible to receive guests in winter. A maze of corridors leads to the courtroom, or arz khauli. And for those who have not admired the majolica of the iwan in the harem or the reception hall, those in the arz khauli offer a breathtaking catch-up session. The court had two exits, one for the acquitted, the other for the convicted. The khan sometimes received guests in a yurt placed on a brick elevation in the middle of the courtyard. At the back of the courtyard, a small door leads to dark galleries where doors and columns recovered from several Khiva monuments are displayed in a jumble.

Citadel in the heart of the inner city, Tash Khauli was built from 1831 to 1841. Behind high walls, the khan built this palace including an audience hall, the royal apartments and a harem. The Khorezm craftsmen were renowned for the quality of their decorations and their woodwork; the iwans of the harem, as well as those of the judgment hall and the audience hall, are the best illustration of their perfect mastery. From 1841, the "stone palace" became the main residence of the khan of Khiva.

«Giant doors», or eastern doors built between 1806 and 1835, are the oldest in the city. A vaulted passage to 6 domes leads to the old town. Left of the gates, facing Ichan kala, was the slave market. In a retreat, in the niches on each side of the corridor, the slaves who had tried to escape were chained while waiting for a fatal fate: it was in front of the market that the convicts were beaten or killed from 1840.

These gates, the most impressive of the city, take their name from the village where the 1873 treaty was signed attaching the Khiva Khanate to the Russian Empire. They are located in Mustakillik street, next to the palace of Nurullah Bey. They consist of a single passage flanked by two more graceful turrets beautifully decorated with blue majolica. It is in fact a total reconstruction, made by the Soviets in the 1970s from archival documents.

Built in the 19th century, they are located in Palvan Kari street which starts from the eastern gates of Ichan kala. Although their architecture is reminiscent of the Ichan kala doors, their appearance is much more massive and free of any colourful decoration. Between Palvan Darvoza and Koi Darvoza stood a large bazaar where animals, horses, sheep, camels and slaves were sold. Even today, a bazaar is still held in Dichan kala, still very colourful, but fortunately the goods have changed.

Leaving Ichan kala through the east gate, the bazaar is on the left and two minarets stand in line with the gate. The first is the Sayyid Niyaz Shalikarbey Mosque. The complex was built between 1835 and 1845, making it one of the oldest minarets in Khiva. Its flared top, decorated with small niches carved into the structure to give relief to the decorations, resembles more the minarets of Registan in Samarkand than the other minarets of Khiva. A little further on, the Palvan Kari minaret yields 3 m to the first with a height of 21 m. More recently, it was erected in 1905 and is named after the rich merchant who undertook its construction and that of the adjacent madrasah and mosque. With a simpler architecture than the previous one, it seems more massive and its crownless imposing. Looking towards Ichan kala, one can see the impeccable alignment of the two minarets of Dichan kala with the minaret of the Friday Mosque in Ichan kala.

" Double doors ", or northern doors, built at the beginning of the th century.