Allakuli Khan Madrasah and the eastern quarter, Khiva

Allakuli Khan, who ruled from 1825 to 1842, did more than any other khan to shape Ichan-Kala as we see it today. He built the Tash-Hauli palace, rebuilt the Pahlavan Mahmud mausoleum, constructed the outer walls of Dishan-Kala, and created a new commercial and educational centre at the eastern gate. His reign was a time of prosperity based on trade, agriculture and, notoriously, the slave trade: thousands of captives, many of them Persians and Russians, were sold in Khiva’s markets.

The madrasah was built in 1834–1835. Because it was squeezed into a crowded site against the city wall, its plan is irregular, and its main facade with the portal is set high, so that it towers over the gate and the square below. It has two storeys of cells, around 99, arranged around a courtyard, as well as a winter mosque and a lecture hall. In its day it was one of the richest madrasahs in Khiva and housed a large library that served the whole city.

The portal is the finest feature: a tall arch framed by tiles in blue, white and turquoise, with floral and geometric majolica patterns, typical of the high quality of Khivan tilework in the 1830s. The side facades are decorated with bands of tiles and arched niches. Inside, some rooms are used by craftsmen or exhibitions; access varies. The madrasah was financed, like others in Khiva, by an endowment of shops and land whose income supported teachers and students, and its library was famous for its collection of manuscripts on religion, law, history and poetry, copied by Khivan scribes.

Opposite the madrasah, Allakuli Khan built a two-storey caravanserai where merchants stayed with their goods, and beside it a covered market, the tim, a long hall under a series of domes. Traders from Russia, Bukhara and Persia sold their wares here, and the khan collected customs duties. The caravanserai had one gate opening into the old city and another onto the bazaar outside, so goods could pass straight from the caravan roads to the market.

Today the tim and caravanserai hold shops selling carpets, textiles, fur hats and souvenirs. Outside the walls, beyond the gate, the modern bazaar of Khiva continues the tradition, with fruit, vegetables, bread, spices and everyday goods.

The Palvan Darvaza, also called the gate of the slaves, is the eastern gate of Ichan-Kala. Its long vaulted passage, lined with small domed chambers, was once the site of a slave market and a place of public punishment. It leads to the Allakuli Khan ensemble on one side and the bazaar on the other. See the gates of Khiva for its history.

Near the gate also stands the Kutlug Murad Inak madrasah, an earlier school of the early 19th century, facing the Allakuli Khan madrasah; together they frame this lively corner of the old city.

Location: at the eastern gate of Ichan-Kala, near Tash-Hauli.

Tickets: the exterior is free; interiors with exhibitions may be included in the Ichan-Kala ticket.

Time needed: 20–30 minutes for the madrasah, the gate and the covered market; longer if you shop or visit the bazaar.

Tips: the morning is the best time to combine the madrasah with the bazaar outside the walls, when it is busiest and the produce is fresh. For shopping advice, see our Khiva food guide and Khiva itinerary.