Khiva

Khiva is a well preserved old Silk Road town that has been described as a “museum city”. It dates back to the 8th century. 

Many people still live within the walls, but must comply with the “historic “ designation of the town in maintaining the exterior of their homes in the traditional style of mud/straw construction. As you can imagine the “mud” colour of the town is very monochromatic. It provides a dramatic contrast to the colourful mosaics that decorate the various buildings.

The legend of the founding of Khiva is that the son of Noah, Shem discovered a well that was called Kheivak. The original well is in the courtyard of an 18th century house. The last resident, a woman has recently passed away and the future access of the well for tourism is unknown.

The site includes numerous mosques, minarets, museums and medressa’s. One of the museums is an old mint which has coins, paper and silk money on display. 

Another museum has a collection of women's jewelry. 

Women always wore as much jewelry as they could in case their husbands divorced them. Divorce by a husband was complete after the husband repeating three times: I divorce you. Upon hearing these words the wife must leave immediately taking only what she is wearing with her. Hence the practice of wearing lots of jewelry.

Uzbekistan’s tallest minaret, at 57 m is in this complex. For a small fee it can be climbed for a view of the town. In contrast the Kalta Minor Minaret is a short, stout unfinished minaret, the construction of which began in 1851. He envisioned a minaret 100 m high that would allow him to see as far as Bukhara. He died in 1855 and the minaret was never finished. The short, stout one is pictured below. 

The Isfandiyar Palace housed the harem and the Khan’s residence. There were four “houses” rooms really for each of the four wives, a larger room for the Khan which has secret hallways and doors so that he could chose  from his wives or concubines at will without concern for offending any of his wives. The residences of each of the wives was very plain inside, while the Khan's was more elaborate in decor.

Juma Mosque is interesting as it has 218 unique pillars supporting its roof. There are 6 that date back to the original 10th century mosque. The legend is that all but six of the original pillars were destroyed and that the Khan requested a tax from the residents in the form of one pillar from each  home.