Khiva … Beyond the Walls

On our last day, we walked through the walls of Ichan Kala to explore the town outside. First was the double gate Kosh Darvaza …

… then the hospital built in 1910, with professional doctors to treat the sick …

… and the post office opposite.

A mosaic by a small park welcomes visitors to Khiva …

… a billboard celebrated the city.

… and posters remember its famous sons such as Al-Khwarizmi, known for his treatise on algebra, inventing the decimal point and giving his name to the word algorithm.

Opposite was the bazaar …

I tried a samsa, which was peeled off the inside of the tandir for me and tasted delicious … Chris chose ice cream over fruit!

We took one of the plentiful little minibuses back to the north gate then headed for the Nurullabay Palace, which was built in 1912 when there was no space within the old city for a palace with gardens. A merchant sold the land to Mohammed Rakhim Khan on condition that the palace was named after him!

We looked round the Reception Building first, built later by Isfandir Khan. A community of Mennonites who had been invited to settle here by Mohammed Rakhim Khan and they assisted with the works, including the parquet wood floor and ghanch plasterwork.

We were most struck by the splendid stoves with brightly coloured tiles which came from St Petersburg …

… and amused that cherubs had found their way onto the ceiling in a Muslim city!

The main part of the palace is a maze of interconnecting courtyards and rooms and has been restored a couple of times.

It contains no internal decoration, instead a modern, well lit exhibition space displaying arts and crafts but also some fascinating photos of Khivas past – possibly the image of Khiva museums to come!

As we walked back we saw this smart academy copying the traditional aesthetic in a modern way.

So that brings our time in Khiva to an end. We are so pleased to have visited now as times are changing, and the city is definitely preparing for the ‘tourist potential’. Not all visitors are happy staying in a small family guesthouse, they would prefer five star hotels with pools …