Itchan Kala (Khiva)

An open-air museum city within walls

The inner city of Khiva is surrounded by a tall clay wall — like a city from a fairy tale! Inside are more than 50 ancient buildings: mosques, minarets, palaces. The Kalta Minor minaret is wide and turquoise but unfinished — it was meant to be the tallest in the world. People still live here today.

Itchan Kala is the 26-hectare inner city of Khiva, ringed by a 10 m mud-brick wall; it was Uzbekistan's first UNESCO site (1990). Capital of the Khanate of Khiva (17th–20th centuries), it preserves more than 50 monuments and 250 houses. Kalta Minor (1852–1855) is a minaret 14.2 m across that stopped at 29 m — 70 m was planned. The Juma Mosque (10th-century foundations) has 213 carved wooden columns. The Islam Khoja minaret (1910) is 57 m, the city's highest point. Also the Tash Hauli palace and the Pahlavan Mahmud mausoleum. Khiva is the centre of Khorezm, homeland of al-Khwarizmi (the word 'algorithm' comes from his name).

Fun facts

• Finished, Kalta Minor would have been 70 m — the tallest minaret of its time.
• The Juma Mosque has 213 wooden columns, some 1,000 years old.
• The word 'algorithm' comes from al-Khwarizmi, a scholar from Khorezm.