All about Uzbekistan

Khiva

Khiva is included in the list of the wealth common to Mankind. It is one of the ancient cities of Central Asia that saved its unique architecture formed in the last two centuries. But the real age of Khiva goes deep to the history breaking the time-borders of our Epoc.

• Khiva is included in the list of the wealth common to Mankind. It is one of the ancient cities of Central Asia that saved its unique architecture formed in the last two centuries. But the real age of Khiva goes deep to the history breaking the time-borders of our Epoc.
• Khiva is like a fairy-tale town. Capital of Khiva Khanate in the 17th century, it has still retained the exotic flavour of a medieval town which time has not destroyed.
• There is a legend according to which Khiva was founded that time when Shem the son of Noi has found the wealth here. People started to call this place Khivak reffered to Khiva.
• Khiva the pearl of the Khorezm oasis impresses one with its beauty. A complete immersion into the past, concentrated and compressed into a comparatively small space enclosed by fortress walls this is Khiva. Here you can listen to the sounds of past centuries: the shouts of traders, the negotiations of buyers, the noise of crafters' workshops, the calls for evening prayer.
• In modern Samarkand, amongst a wealth of historical monuments, visitors constantly "fall" from the past to the present, in Bukhara they cross the streets of history from century to century, but in Khiva they are transported to the past "forever" leaving behind the massive walls of the Ichan-Kala "a town within a town".
• The Ichan-Kala surrounded by fortress walls with four gates facing in all four directions is the centre of the city. Here you may walk through the narrow streets touching the roughness of the old walls, passing under arches of buildings into the cool shade of ancient trees.
• Let us climb up to the Akshi-Bobo bastion used by guards to patrol and protect the city. From here the Ichan-Kala is clearly visible.
• About 20 medrassahs high-education schools are preserved in Khiva. Medrassah Mukhammad Amin-khan is the biggest one. Really remarkable peculiarity it its coupled khudjars special cells for students' living.
• The Juma-Mosque is very beautiful. The date of its construction still is clearly written on the entrance: 1778/82. The 210 columns supporting the roof are very old: from the 12-15th centuries. These columns come from other ancient constructions. The columns are admired because of their intricate ornamentation.
• There are many wonderful buildings outside the walls of the ancient town. The whole oasis of Khorezm is rich in memorials. Deep in the Karakum Desert, scientists found a large town, Kuzeli-Gyr, dating back 2500. A canal flowed towards the town and a deep moat surrounded the fortress. As the water disappeared, life in the town died and today only sand dunes and the grief of past centuries remains.
• There are so many medressahs and mosques big and small located in the limited territory of the town that its is hard to believe while walking through the labyrinth of the oldest past of the town that a modern city churns with life just a few yards away.