Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasah, Khiva

Muhammad Amin Khan ruled Khiva from 1845 to 1855. He fought to extend the khanate’s power over the Turkmen tribes to the south and reinforced its hold over the trade routes through the desert. To glorify his reign, he ordered two monuments facing the main square of the western part of Ichan-Kala: a madrasah larger than any other in the city, and beside it a minaret meant to be the tallest in Central Asia.

The madrasah was completed in 1854. The minaret, Kalta Minor, was still under construction when the khan was killed in battle near Sarakhs in 1855, and it was never finished. The pair, one complete and one interrupted, stand side by side as a memorial to his ambition.

The madrasah is a massive two-storey rectangle around a large courtyard, with about 125 cells (hujra) for students. Unusually, the cells on the upper floor open onto loggias facing the courtyard, and many rooms consist of two connected chambers, a sign of the wealth of the foundation. At each corner stand small towers (guldasta), and the corners of the building are rounded.

The main facade faces east towards the Kunya Ark, across the square at the west gate. Its portal is framed by majolica tiles in blue, white and turquoise, with geometric and floral patterns and inscriptions, in the brilliant 19th-century Khivan style also seen on Kalta Minor. On either side of the portal run two levels of arched niches, giving the long facade rhythm.

In its time it was not only a school. It housed the khanate’s highest court of Islamic law, and students came from all over Khorezm and beyond.

Like most madrasahs in Uzbekistan, it ceased to function as a religious school after the Soviet takeover in the 1920s. In the Soviet period it was converted into a hotel, and it remains a hotel today. Staying in a former student cell, with a courtyard view and Kalta Minor outside the door, is an unusual experience; rooms are compact, as the original cells were.

For non-guests, the facade and the portal are the main attractions, and you may be able to look into the courtyard from the entrance.

The madrasah forms one side of the open space just inside the Ata Darvaza, the main western gate of Ichan-Kala. Here are the ticket office, Kalta Minor, the gate of the Kunya Ark and, in summer, stalls selling fur hats, ceramics and souvenirs. It is the busiest spot in the old city in the daytime and a lively meeting point in the evening, when the facade and Kalta Minor are lit. Many visitors start their tour here.

Location: just inside the western gate of Ichan-Kala, beside Kalta Minor and opposite the Kunya Ark.

Tickets: the exterior is free to see; it is not part of the museum circuit.

Time needed: 10–15 minutes.

Photos: the best view of the madrasah with Kalta Minor is from the square in front of the Kunya Ark gate, in the late afternoon when the sun lights the facade, or from the Kunya Ark watchtower above.

Nearby: the gates of Khiva and the walls, and the Juma mosque a few minutes east along the main street. See our Khiva itinerary and where to stay in Khiva.