Driving into this dusty little town in southern Uzbekistan it’s hard to imagine that this
was once the centre of an great empire… the Khanate of Khiva, one of the Silk Road’s greatest centres of learning and trade. And now officially my new favourite little city of all time!
It’s detractors like to call it a bit of a Silk Road Disneyland, but to me, it was the first place on the trip to totally blow my mind, elevate my senses and send my happiness levels off the scale.
Although very small in stature compared to its Silk Road sister cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, its old town of Ichon Qala is absolutely jampacked with gorgeous madrasas, minarets and mosques. As soon as you enter through the old city walls it’s as if you have been transported to a world of palaces, harems and camel caravans… and a whirlwind of colour, mosaics and zellige design… not to mention the silks…. sounds like my kind of place!!!
Let me take you on a tour…
Let's take a closer look at this exquisite detail!
Perhaps the most iconic site in Khiva is the Kalta Minor, a curious short, squat edifice, completely bedazzled with the most brilliant turquoise and green mosaic tiles… it is absolutely breathtaking, especially at dawn when I was the only tourist in town.
And to satisfy your curiosity… it was intended to be the tallest minaret in all of Central Asia - an estimated 70m tall - allegedly so that its patron Muhammad Amin Khan could see the rival city of Bukhara from the top. Although sadly he was murdered before completion, and then the architect ran away… there was a tradition back in these days to kill an architect upon completion of a project so that nobody else could copy the commission, so I guess he fled while he could!
Today Khiva’s Ichon Qala can still boast 23 madrassas (centres of learning - ie universities), 6 mosques, 6 mausoleums, 14 minarets, two dazzling palaces, and one caravanserai, all created by incredible craftsmanship and adorned with the most amazing mosaic work. But the most exquisite to me was the Tash Khauli Palace, housing the royal harem. Now I know in the west that absolutely everyone is curious about the concept of a harem, so let me give you a brief rundown of what I learnt…
So as per Islam, the Khan could take four wives. But then he would amass a number of concubines. Many were slaves, daughters of debtors or criminals, but others, being taken by their beauty, the Khan would simply pick up on his travels (I wondered whether the guide actually meant ‘kidnapped’, but was too polite to question her further). Concubines would be kept until they aged, (usually until 30 ) and then were evicted with perhaps an illegitimate child or two and likely not much honour. And when the Khan died, the entire collection of wives and concubines were also turfed out because the son (the new incoming Khan) cannot inherit his father’s harem – although I’m thinking he probably wouldn’t want to either! I understand the wives would have been looked after relatively ok but the poor concubines were sent to the slave market to be sold off.
It should be noted that Khiva was most famous for its slave market from the 17th century until the Russians came along in 1873. They estimate that around 100,000 poor souls would be traded each year - seems the nomadic Turkmen tribesman were running a particularly successful racquet in kidnapping, their specialty being Persians and Russians. (During the first half of the 19th century alone, some one million Persians, as well as an unknown number of Russians, were enslaved and transported to Central Asian khanates.....!!!)
But back to the harem…
The harem is built around a large courtyard, with a number of rooms to house the concubines on one side, four open areas or 'aywans' for each of the wives opposite and of course the Khan’s bedchamber front and center.
The harem rooms were pretty incredible - with absolutely gorgeous hand painted floral motives decorating the walls and ceilings. Apparently around 40 girls could be housed in these rooms.
The wives’ quarters looked pretty luxe, complete with a sun terrace, but unfortunately for us the interiors were locked out of sight.
And then the Khan’s bedchamber… want to take a look? Of course you do...!!!
There were a couple of small doors inside of his room, one of which opened onto a secret internal passage way which led along the back of the wives rooms. We were told that when summoned. this is how a wife would travel to and from the Khan’s bedroom without being noticed by the other wives… so none of the wives could tell which one was the favourite… or not.
But cultural history lesson aside, let’s just take a moment to admire the amazing artistry of this building… I mean, just look at these mosaic panels… I could sit and look at these all day and still not decide on a favourite!
Next up is the Kunya Ark Citadel which was like a mini fortified city within a fortified city...
It had a palace, mosque, a harem, offices, factories, an arsenal, a mint and best of all…. a dungeon! I could bore you with more stunning examples of all the outrageous craftsmanship on display here... such as this....
...and this...
...but the thing that caught my eye was of course the dungeon within the Zidan Gaol…
oh so many stories abound about this place…
The Khans of Khiva were notorious for their cruelty and barbaric punishments - and depending on the crime, they had a favourite way of dispatching with a “criminal”.
Some of the best included being thrown off the top of a minaret if you couldn’t pay your debts (although many actually survived this fall due to the voluminous layers of the traditional garb which acted as a bit of a parachute!).
If a woman was accused of adultery she would be put into a sack with a bunch of purposely starved wildcats and then the sack was beaten with a stick...
...or if she had eloped / indulged before marriage, she would be buried to her chest and stoned, the first stone being thrown by her father (after which he could regrow his shaved head and redeem himself of his family’s shame). Apparently this was a particularly gruesome way to go as it could take days for her to die, while the suitor could expect the relatively straightforward hanging... (you can see him in the back in the top right corner below...)
Not much fun to be a woman in love in these days huh?
Next up was being impaled if you were a non believer, being buried alive if accused of treason, or if you were a foreign envoy that crossed the Khan’s path he would have you buried alive out in the steppe rather than in town, as they would not allow the blood of an infidel to be spilt on their own soil.
Other gruesome punishments included having your mouth split from ear to ear if you were caught smoking or drinking, and if a suspect refused to comply they would beat him with rods, put salt in his mouth and expose him to the burning rays of the sun,
until at last he confessed. Then there were the usual eye gougings or if you were under 40 you were more likely to be as sold as a slave or gifted on rather than be dispatched like your elders.
Executioner Square is the name of the area directly outside the gaol, and I think that the worst thing that happened was that incarcerated prisoners were able to hear the shrieks of pain and anguish as people met their slow tortured deaths, and were in turn tormented by the dread of their own impending fate.
So fascinating I found this that I created a reel showcasing the incredulity of it all.
You can watch it here…
But of course aside from all the magical histories and dazzling mosaics we cannot forget the reason for the strategic importance of this amazing little fortified city…
being the last oasis on the Silk Road before entering the desert to Iran! And so you could just imagine my delight to discover that the city’s Caravanserai had now been converted into a silk souq… that’s right… two of my most favouritest things ever….
camels and silks!! Swoon.
A bit touristy yes, but it did make me happy!
Here are some of the yummy things I found…
Can you see what this is?
We were fortunate to be staying inside the city walls which meant I had the privilege of wandering around the labyrintine streets and alleys at leisure. It was interesting to to see how the city changed its mood throughout the day, from cool and tranquil in the morning, bustling with trade and tourists during the day and then becoming rather more sophisticated as the golden hour approached and the mudbrick buildings glowed in the setting sun. The colours were absolutely luscious.
I found Khiva to be a hugely contradictory place - on one hand a place of absolute cruelty and barbarism, growing strong under centuries of the iron fisted ruling Khans, but then on the other, a place of utmost beauty, incredible artistry and a complete sensory overload…
Perhaps that’s why I love it so much.
Comments