Khiva travel guide

Top 10 sights in Khiva

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© pastaitaken · CC BY 3.0

   Kalta Minor

   A minaret begun in 1852 by Muhammad Amin Khan, who meant it to be the tallest in the Islamic world and tall enough to see Bukhara from. He was killed in 1855 and it stopped at twenty-nine metres — a turquoise-banded stump wider than it is high.

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2. 

   2© upyernoz from Haverford, USA · CC BY 2.0

   Ak Mosque

   A small mosque in the walled town of Khiva, built between 1838 and 1842 on much older foundations, its name meaning the white mosque. Carved wooden columns hold up the roof and a bathhouse stands beside it.

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3. 

   3© Carpodacus · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Khiva Friday Mosque

   A mosque in the walled town of Khiva whose flat roof rests on two hundred and thirteen wooden columns, a few of them carved in the tenth century and reused. It has no dome, portal or courtyard; light falls through openings in the roof.

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4. 

   4© upyernoz from Haverford, USA · CC BY 2.0

   Nurullabay's palace

   The reception palace of Asfandiyar Khan, finished around 1912 with Russian-built interiors — parquet, tiled stoves, stained glass and a throne room done up in St Petersburg style, which is what the khanate looked like just before it ended.

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5. 

   5© Petar Milošević · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Ota darvoza

   The western gate of the walled inner town, first built in 1828 under Allakuli Khan, demolished in the Soviet period and rebuilt in the 1970s. Most visitors enter Khiva through it.

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   Pakhlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum

   A domed tomb of 1664 over the grave of Pahlavan Mahmud, a furrier, poet and undefeated wrestler who died in 1326 and became the patron saint of Khiva. Its interior is lined with blue majolica and it is still a place of prayer.

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7. 

   7© Faqscl · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Itchan Kala south gate

   The southern gate of the walled town of Khiva, from the eighteenth or nineteenth century, and the quietest of the four. It was listed as a protected monument in 2019.

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8. 

   8© Faqscl · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Mohammed Rahim Khan madrasa

   A madrasa of 1871 facing the Kuhna Ark, built by Muhammad Rahim Khan II, who ruled after the Russian protectorate was imposed and wrote poetry under the name Feruz. Its cells now hold small museums and a bookshop.

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9. 

   9© Carpodacus · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Hasanmurod Qushbegi mosque

   A mosque of the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century near the Bogcha gate, facing the Amir Tura madrasa, with the carved wooden columns and painted ceiling that Khivan mosques used instead of domes.

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10. 

    10© Faqscl · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Itchan Kala north gate

    The northern gate of the walled town, built in the nineteenth century and named for the gardens that lay outside it. It is the smallest of the gates and opens onto the newer town.

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1. 

   1© upyernoz from Haverford, USA · CC BY 2.0

   Konya Ark

   The citadel of the Khivan khans, with a summer mosque tiled floor to ceiling in blue and white, a mint, a harem and a throne court. The watchtower on its wall gives the best view over the mud-brick town, and it is where everyone goes for sunset.

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2. 

   2

   Toshhovli Palace

   A palace built between 1830 and 1841 for Allakuli Khan, with more than two hundred and sixty rooms around three courtyards. Carved wooden columns and blue tile line the harem court, which took the best of the khanate's craftsmen a decade.

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3. 

   3© Faqscl · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Itchan Kala east gate

   The eastern gate of the walled inner town, built in 1806 and the main way in. Khivans also call it the slave gate: the market beside it traded Persians and Russians taken by Turkmen raiders, and it ran until the Russian conquest of 1873 closed it.

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4. 

   4© Toïlev · CC BY 4.0

   Abdolbobo Mausoleum

   A mausoleum from the eighteenth or nineteenth century in the Kumyaska quarter outside the eastern gate of Khiva, protected as a national monument since 2019.

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5. 

   5© Vano111ru · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Said Mahruyjan Complex

   A complex built in 1884 around the grave of Said Muhammad Mahruyjan, with a madrasa and a lodge added beside the tomb — one of the last such foundations made before the khanate lost its independence.

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