PLACES TO VISIT
Cities: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara & Khiva.

ATA-DARVAZA (means main gate) was the main entrance into the city. In the beginning of this century it was demolished and reconstructed in its present form.
PALVAN-DARVAZA  (gates of hercules) comprises a 60 metre long passage covered by 6 domes and adjoining a big complex of religious, commercial and communal establishments. To the right of this gates at the  entrance to Ichan-Kala was a slave market, which functioned till the  year 1873.
MOKHAMMED AMIN KHAN MADRASSAH. A  madrassah  is  an  Islamic  University  Mokhammed  Amin  Khan madrassah (1852-1855) is the biggest building of its kind in Khiva and stands at the Ata-Darvaza gates near the entrance  to  Ichan-Kala. The building has been restored extensively and now houses the hotel Khiva.
THE KALTA (short) MINARET stands  at  the  Mokhammed  Amin  Khan  madrassah  near  the Ata - Darvaza  gates. Construction  was  started in 1851 but in the following year it was discontinued. Khan Mokhammed Amin who had commissioned it died in one of  his campaigns  and  his successors refused  to  carry  on  with  the  project.  The Kalta  Minaret, as it stands,  has a diameter at the base  of  14 m  and  height  of  26m.
KUNYA  ARK (old  fortress).   The complex  was built  in  the  18th   century  during  the  rule  Khan  Arang.   It   comprised  living quarters,  a mosque, the palace of khan, the mint, his harem, the arsenal and powder magazine, the stables. Only a few of the buildings have survived.
As  almost  any  other  ancient  city Khiva had  its patron saint. At one time it was Shem the son of  Noah.  After the 13th century the people favored another name – that of Pakhlavan-pir  (patron  of  strong  men).
PAHLAVAN  MAKHMUD was  a  furrier,  who  helped  the  poor,  wrote  poetry  and  was  the  strongest  man in the kingdom. Since the 12th  century he has been canonized as Khiva's protector. This mausoleum was constructed on the site of his furshop in 1810.
The  ISLAM  KHODJA minaret is the tallest in Khiva. It rises 56 meters side by side with the Islam Khodja madrassah, which was built in 1908. The structure is clearly visible from any part of the city.
The second tallest minaret in Khiva was built at the Djuma-mosque at the end of the 18th century. This minaret rises in the middle of Ichan Kala at the crossing of two main streets.  One of the most important monuments of civic architecture in Khiva is the TASH-KHAULI  palace (stone court) complex,  which  was  built  on  the  order  of  Allakulikhan  during  t he period from 1830 to 1838. There are 163 rooms in the complex.  The  ceremonial  yards and some of the living quarters are decorated with majolica facing, mural paintings and carved ood, plaster and stone.
Other  important  monuments  in  Ichan Kala include the Seyid Allauddin mausoleum (14th century), the Anush Khan baths (17th century), Caravan-serai (19th century), the  Ak-Mosque, the Djuma-Mosque (10th century).


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