Mud-brick walls
At sunset.
Jamolbek Kalandarov — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Официальный веб-сайт Агентства культурного наследия Республики Узбекистан — CC BY 4.0 · Adam Harangozó — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bgag — CC0 · Adam Harangozó — CC BY-SA 4.0 · upyernoz from Haverford, USA — CC BY 2.0
The walled inner town of Khiva, a World Heritage Site since 1990. It holds more than fifty historic monuments and 250 old houses, mostly of the 18th and 19th centuries, inside mud-brick walls that ring it completely, with towers and crenellations. Visitors enter through one of four gates, the best known the western Ota Darvoza, into a town from centuries past: madrasas, mosques, minarets, palaces, mausoleums, caravanserais and markets, crowded together along earth-coloured lanes. Its highlights include the Kunya Ark citadel, the Juma Mosque, the madrasas of Muhammad Amin Khan, Muhammad Rakhim Khan and Allakuli Khan, the turquoise-domed Pahlavon Mahmoud Mausoleum and the Kalta Minor and Islam Khoja minarets. From the walls at sunset the whole town turns gold. A combined ticket costs about 250,000 som, valid two days and covering some 16 sites, sold at the gates, per visitor guides. Early morning and evening are best; summer is very hot.
At sunset.
The west gate.
Over the roofs.
Khiva's inner town
Juma Mosque, KhivaOne of Itchan Kala's principal monuments, in its middle on the road between the 1 minute walk4.6
Kalta Minor minaretAn unfinished minaret in Khiva's Itchan Kala, in front of the Muhammad Amin Khan1 minute walk4.9
Islam Khoja MinaretKhiva's tallest minaret, about 57 metres including its base, built in 1908-1910 2 minutes walk4.7
Tosh Hovli PalaceA palace in Khiva's Itchan Kala whose name means «stone house», built between 183 minutes walk4.6Some 16 sites, including the Kunya Ark, the Juma Mosque, Tosh Hovli Palace and most madrasas and museums, valid two days; climbing the Islam Khoja minaret costs extra, per visitor guides.