Uzbekistan: Khiva Pictures

Uzbekistan Photo Gallery – Khiva edition

Khiva (Uzbek: Xiva, Russian: Хива), is located in the western part of Uzbekistan, in the Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan. It is one of the earliest town on the silk road, and the first place in Uzbekistan to get a UNESCO world heritage site inscription. It takes 20 hours or so by train from Tashkent to reach Khiva (through Urgench, the capital city nearby) and it’s a trip well worth the effort.

Buildings in Khiva's old city glow in the sunset

Inside a restored old building in Itchan Qala, Khiva

West facing galleries of a madarsa in Khiva

Beautiful facade of a madrasa in Ichon Qala

Souvenir markets wrapping up around sunset

Tourists roaming in Khiva's old quarters

A market street in Ichan Kala, outside the Islom Xoja Madrasasi

City walls and the stubby minaret of Itchan Qala

West-facing facade of the Rakhim Khan Medressa

Itchan Kala (Uzbek: Ichаn-Qаl’а, Russian: Ичан-Калa) is the old quarter of Khiva that has preserved about 50 historic monuments and 250 old structures dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. While not all monuments are not that old, some of the older foundations dating as far back as the tench century have been used to build subsequent buildings.

Walking through the old city of Khiva

Visitors strolling around the historic quarters

Being a weekend, there were lots of locals visiting the old city

Inside the Rahim Khan medrassa

The old city is rectangular, with brick walls and four gates surrounding its sides in a fortress-like structure. You can walk over the walls for some of it to get a view of the old city and it’s dirt/tiled streets. The famous stubby minaret was actually built by a former ruler who wanted to build a tower so high that you could see all the way to Bukhara (almost 500km away) while rest of the kingdom starved. After his death, his ridiculous pet project was swiftly abandoned.

The famous stubby minaret in Itchan Kala, Khiva

Khiva's stubby minaret is actually an abandoned pet project of this king who wanted to build a tower so high, it could see all the way to Bukhara (450km)

Islam Khoja Minaret

Mohammed Rakhim Khan Medressa

City walls seen from Ak Sheikh Bobo

Khiva's west-facing buildings look spectacular during sunsets

I was in Khiva for Uzbekistan’s independence day, and the pictures, especially at night are simply stunning. Get a museum pass which allows you to visit many of the museums and interiors of old buildings. Sunsets are best seen from the tower on the western gate.