Khiva, a Silk Road city in the Khorezm oasis alongside Samarkand and Bukhara, became capital of the Khivan Khanate in the sixteenth century, and its walled old town, Itchan Kala, grew over roughly six centuries into one of Central Asia's most complete surviving assemblages of Islamic mosques, madrasas and mausolea, including the Pahlavan Mahmud Mausoleum and the eighteenth century Djuma Mosque with its forest of more than 200 carved wooden columns. Itchan Kala is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Facts
Origins
FoundedBecame capital of the Khivan Khanate in the sixteenth century; its walled old town, Itchan Kala, grew over roughly six centuries into one of Central Asia's most complete surviving assemblages of Islamic mosques, madrasas and mausolea. 1 Traditions
Sacred and Liturgical LanguagesArabic in Quranic and legal scholarship, with Persian and Chagatai Turkic in literary and devotional use across the khanate's mosques and madrasas. 1 Status
UNESCO World HeritageInscribed on the World Heritage List 1 Attributions
TraditionIslam: Itchan Kala holds one of Central Asia's most complete surviving assemblages of Islamic mosques, madrasas and mausolea. 1 Connections
Associated With
Its walled old town grew into one of Central Asia's most complete surviving assemblages of Islamic mosques, madrasas and mausolea.
Source Sufism: A Global HistoryNile Green
Contained In
Related To
Sacred To
Source Sufism: A Global HistoryNile Green
Sources
1. Sufism: A Global History
Nile Green, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012on Khiva and Central Asian Islamic architecture
Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2024s.v. Khiva, Itchan KalaView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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