Khiva Photo Gallery by lcurran at pbase.com

Khiva

The city of Khiva was first recorded by Muslim travellers in the 10th century, although archaeologists assert that the city has existed since the 6th century. By the early 17th century, Khiva had become the capital of the Khanate of Khiva, ruled over by a branch of the Astrakhans,
a Genghisid dynasty.
In 1873, Russian General Von Kaufman launched an attack on the city, which fell on 28 May 1873. Although the Russian Empire now controlled the Khanate, it nominally allowed Khiva to remain as a quasi-independent protectorate. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power after the October Revolution, a short lived Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was created out of the territory of the old Khanate of Khiva, before its incorporation into the USSR in 1924, with the city of Khiva becoming part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
Khiva, also known as Khorezm, has a very long history; only a few civilizations can be compared with it. Hundred of years before the great Silk Road appeared, ancient Khorezm had links with Europe and the East, with Siberia and southern civilizations.
It is a cradle of three civilizations formed in Uzbekistan.
The Khorezm Khanate was very famous in the fourth century, BC. It was a very powerful state. The fairytale-like city of Khiva has managed to retain its exotic image of an Oriental town in the older part of the city called Itchan-Qala. Itchan-Qala displays the simplicity and monumentality of medieval architectural forms, the delicateness of woodcarvings, and the skilled interweaving of ornamentation. The silhouettes of its towering minarets, hemmed in by clay-built houses with their flat roofs and surrounded by the fortress's powerfully-built clay walls, give a clear idea of a typical Central Asian feudal city.
Billed as an "open air museum" Khiva is more than 2,500 years old with a population of about 40,000 people. It is located near the Kyzylkum desert, 450 km. from Bukhara. In fact, Khiva is made up of madrassahs (religious schools), mosques and minarets such as the tall and beautiful Islam-Khoja minaret. As well, it has the most number of minarets in Asia, the most remarkable being the Kalta-Minor minaret (1835).
There are a number of images showing the city before restoration - photographs taken by various Russian and French scholars and photographers. Their names and dates of the photograph taken are noted on each image.
"Caught in Time: Great Photographic Archives - KHIVA", Series Editor Vitaly Naumkin, Garnet Publishing 1992

Khiva	Itchan Kala Walls	Interior Courtyard - Hotel Malika	Runaway Horse
XIMG_1919.jpg	Kalta Minor or Short Minaret	Kalta Minor	XIMG_1933.jpg
View of Khiva	XIMG_1938.jpg	Kalta Minor and Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa	XIMG_1940.jpg
XIMG_1943.jpg	Ibn Musa al-Khorezmy	Public Tandoor	XIMG_1962.jpg
Islam Khodja Minaret	XIMG_1964.jpg	XIMG_1968.jpg
XIMG_1977.jpg	XIMG_1980.jpg	City Walls	Kunya Ark's Walls and the Harem Tower
Palace Structures in Kunya Ark	XIMG_1994.jpg	XIMG_2008.jpg	XIMG_2016.jpg
XIMG_2018.jpg	Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa	Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa	Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa
Inner Courtyard	Interior of Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa	Elm Tree	XIMG_2026.jpg
XIMG_2028.jpg	XIMG_2030.jpg	XIMG_2032.jpg	XIMG_2033.jpg
Commemoration Day Celebration - Main Square	Children from Local Orphanage	XIMG_2042.jpg	Mohammed Rakhim Khan Madrassa
XIMG_2076.jpg	XIMG_2082.jpg	Eternity Pattern Tile	XIMG_2086.jpg
XIMG_2089.jpg	Khurinish Khana Reception Hall	Khurinish Khana	Ceiling Ornamentation
XIMG_2092.jpg	XIMG_2098.jpg	Throne Room	XIMG_2104.jpg
Original Pillar	Carved Marble Base	XIMG_2112.jpg	XIMG_2115.jpg
XIMG_2117.jpg	XIMG_2120.jpg	XIMG_2127.jpg	XIMG_2128.jpg
XIMG_2130.jpg	XIMG_2135.jpg	Tombs	Former Islam Khodja Madrassa - Now a Restaurant
Russian School	Islam Khoja Minaret	xIMG_2192.jpg	Pahklavan Mahmoud Mosque
Pahklavan Mahmoud Mausoleum	XIMG_2150.jpg	Pahklavan Mahmoud Mausoleum	Southern Portal
Hujra Cells - Hostel	Portarit of Pakhlavan Mahmoud	Pakhlavan Mahmoud Mausoleum	XIMG_2159.jpg
Prayers and Offerings with Iman	Dome Ceiling	Mahmoud's Tomb	XIMG_2167.jpg
Screen Door to Mahmoud's Tomb	XIMG_2172.jpg	Worshippers at Tomb	Cemetery
Juma Masjidi Mosque	XIMG_2206.jpg	XIMG_2209.jpg	Original Pillar - 10th Century
XIMG_2215.jpg	XIMG_2222.jpg	XIMG_2223.jpg	Shali Khor Mosque
East Gate	Polvon Darvoza Gate (Strongman or Athlete's Gate)	XIMG_2234.jpg	XIMG_2235.jpg
XIMG_2237.jpg	XIMG_2238.jpg	Tash-Khauli Palace	Tash Kauli Palace
Tash-Khauli Palace	Tash Kauli Palace	Harem Room	Allakulikhan Madrassah
Kunya Ark	XIMG_2255.jpg	XIMG_2256.jpg	Reception Hall
XIMG_2272.jpg	Khan of Khiva	Khan of Khiva and Officials	Khan's Prime Minister
Images from Atop the Harem Tower	City Walls	View of Kalta Minor and Mohammed Amin Khan Madrassa from Harem Tower	XIMG_2289.jpg
XIMG_2291.jpg	XIMG_2295.jpg	XIMG_2302.jpg	XIMG_2303.jpg
XIMG_2304.jpg	XIMG_2306.jpg	XIMG_2316.jpg	XIMG_2318.jpg
XIMG_2329.jpg	XIMG_1995.jpg	XIMG_2338.jpg	West Gate
Koy Darvaz Gate	Walls of the Outer Town	Courtyards	Views of Khiva

comment |

click on thumbnails for full image

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment