Khiva

The Khoresm Khanate was very famous in the fourth century, BC. It was very powerful state. Fairy-tale like city Khiva has managed to retain its exotic image of an Oriental town in the older part of the city called Ichan-Kala. Ichan-Kala is a place where all the monuments of architecture are located. Among them are the Kunya-Ark citadel and the the Tash-Khauli Palace, residence of the Khan had been preserved intact along with its ornate gates. Besides, that, Ichan-Kala displays simplicity and monumentality of medieval architectural forms, the delicateness of woodcarvings, and skilled interweaving of ornamentation. The silhouettes of its towering minarets, hemmed in by clay blit houses with their flat roofs and surrounded by the fortress's powerful clay built walls, give a clear idea of a typical Central Asian feudal city.

Billed as an "open air museum" Khiva is about 2,000 years old. Here you will find the Pakhlavan Makhmud mausoleum (1835), the Muhammad Aminkhan madrasah (1855), the Palace Ensamble Kunia-Arki Jash Hauli (1841), and the Allajulikhana caravanserai (1855). In fact, Khiva is made up of madrasahs, mosques and minarets such as the tall and beautiful Islam-Khodja minaret, plus having the most number of minarets in Asia, the most remarkable being the Kalta-Minor minaret (1835) and it is still standing. The Djuma Mosque which has an amazingly 218 ornate carved wooden columns is another of the main attractions.

The main sights:

• The Ichan-Kala fortification walls
• Kunya-Ark (Old fortress)
• Kurinish-Khana
• Alla-Kuli-Khan ensemble (XVII-IXX)
• Alla-Kuli-Khan Caravansarai (XIX)
• Palvan-Darvaza gate (khight's gate, IXX)
• Alla-Kuli-Khan Medrese and Hojaberdybi Medrese (XIX and XVI)
• Alla-Kuli-Khan Tim (XIX)
• Pahlavan-Makhmud complex (11247-1325)
• Tash-Hauli Palace (XIX)
• Islam-Hoja Medrese and Minaret (early XX)
• Juma Masjid
• Chodra-Hauli (XVIII and XIX century)
• Shergazi Khan Medrese (XVIII)
• Nurulabai Palace, The country summer residence (1906-1912)

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