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History of Khiva, brief overview : KHIVA When speaking about Central Asia, history and legends are indivisible from each other. History gives you dates and describes important events, but legends bring you closer to the very heart and soul, the unique character of places you travel through. So, starting a story about a place in Central Asia with a legend is something inevitabe, rather than a pursuit of extravagance. Khiva surely does have its own legends, and the first one brings us twenty five centuries back in time to Shem, son of Noah, who is said to have established this city in a green oasis between two scorching deserts of Kara-kum and Kizil-kum. The legend tells us that Shem’s people dug a well which got filled with sweet water, so they called this place Khi-vakh, “sweet water” – and this is where Khiva got its name from. The earliest days of Khiva leave a lot for further study. Some scriptures say that Alexander the Great did once receive an emissary from Khiva, but he himself never went as deep into Central Asia as to reach it. It is known, however, that at the very beginning of the AD era it already was a flourishing center of trade and culture. Khiva was favored by some of the prominent people of Central Asian history: Al-Khorezmi, a mathematician whose works became known in Europe after they were translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, lived and worked here in the VIII century. Later, in the beginning of the XI century Avicenna had started his famous “Canon of medical science” while living in Khiva, and here he also got acquainted with Abu Raikhon Beruni, another famous eastern scientist; they worked closely together for many years. Wars and destruction did not hit Khiva as often and as strong as Bukhara, for instance. For centuries it was enjoying relative stability and its comfortable position at one of the Great Silk Road’s branches. Khiva was also a center of slavery; the major number of slaves was Russian. This fact was of course irritating for Russia, but Khiva was still too far for serious military countermeasures, although some attempts were made in early XVIII century. In the middle of the XVIII century it was overrun by Persians; the city sustained heavy damage, and later, as restoration proceeded, began to look more and more similar to what we can see today. In May 1873 Khiva was at last taken by the Russian general Kaufmann as he was proceeding with the conquest of Central Asia in response to British advancements from India into Afghanistan during the times of the Great Game. Today’s Khiva is unique in many respects, but the first and the most obvious is that its historical center Ichan-Kala is so small, less than one square kilometer, yet so dense and diverse – a magical jewel box in a palm of your hand. This small area, surrounded by 2200 meters of well-preserved walls with over 40 massive built-in bastions, is packed with practically as many places to visit as you would see, let’s say, in the whole Samarqand. Besides, Ichan-Kala has a permanent population of over 3000, mainly craftsmen with their families, and observing those industrious people at their home workshops is an exiting attraction by itself. A clear, absolutely unique landmark of Khiva, located in Ichan-Kala, is Kalta-Minar. It was meant by Mohammad Amin Khan to be the tallest one in the Muslim world, but its construction, started in 1851, was stopped in 1855 with his death and was never resumed and completed. However, two other minarets still provide spectacular views over the city: a smaller one by Juma Mosque and, of course, wonderfully decorated Islam Khodja minaret.         Another place worth to be specially mentioned in even such a small overview is Juma Mosque. Its ceiling rests upon over 200 wooden pillars, many of them are hundreds years old (one even brought by Tamerlan himself from India), every pillar carved uniquely from all others. Pillars are gradually replaced as their wood is getting too old. There is a window in the center of the mosque’s ceiling which makes the lightning of the mosque’s internal space very special and unique.       A part of Ichan Kala forms a fortified citadel inside the fortress – Khan’s palace, Kunya Ark. Being well-preserved from the destruction of the time, as is the rest of the city, it would give you a bright picture of Central Asian rulers’ habitat.

History of Khiva, brief overview

KHIVA When speaking about Central Asia, history and legends are indivisible from each other. History gives you dates and describes important events, but legends bring you closer to the very heart and soul, the unique character of places you travel through. So, starting ...

Updated: Apr 06, 2007 4:05am PST

Ark Fortress, Bukhara : ARK FORTRESS, BUKHARA The ancient legend credits the construction of the Ark citadel to Siyavush – an epic hero of the Central Asia. Young Siyavush fell in love with the local Khan’s daughter, and the father, as it often happens in legends, decided to put him to a test. The Khan unrolled a bull’s skin on the ground and ordered Siyavush to build him a palace on the ground under this skin. But, again as it should be in a decent legend, Siyavush was smart, he cut the skin into narrow ribbons, tied them together and had circled an area where he built the palace, which we now call an Ark of Buhara. Siyavush himself is said to be buried under the main gate of the fortress. However, that’s just a legend. The Ark was build by thousands of slaves with quite primitive tools. It was meant to be a symbol of local rulers’ strength, power and stability. Alas, the Ark’s history is quite different: it was ruined, rebuild and reconstructed many times, over and over again. The real age of the fortress is unknown; what’s known is that 15 centuries ago it already was a residence for rulers of a quite vast and populated area, and its first construction days are probably two – two and a half thousand years away from us. The fortress housed the ruler himself, with all his wives, servants and vaults full of treasures, the major civil and military officers with their families, various workshops and storehouses, stables, armories and a prison; the population of the Ark fortress was up to 3000 people. The Ark was also known to have a unique library which attracted some of the most prominent eastern scientists, philosophers and writers: Rudaki, Ferdousi, Avicenna, Farabi and Omar Hayam. Avicenna has described it as follows: “In this library I have found books which I never knew about, and have never seen ever since. After reading them I have understood the place of each scientist in science. They have uncovered such a depth of knowledge before me which I never knew before.” The fate of the library is unknown; most probably it was plundered and lost in one of wars that rolled over Bukhara. As it was said above, the Ark was rebuilt multiple times. In pre-Islamic period a major reconstruction was done in IX-X centuries during the reign of Samanid’s dynasty. In 1220 the Ark was the last stronghold of resistance against Chingiz-Khan; it fell under the conqueror’s mighty siege and was ruined. In XVI century, under Sheibanids’ dynasty, the fortress was rebuilt again and became the Ark as we know it today, more or less. In the late XVI century its eastern gate was ruined and never restored since then, leaving the Western gate the only one remaining. The current look of the Ark was practically finalized in September 1920, when the last Bukhara Emir was overthrown and the city was taken by the Red army, led by Mikhail Frunze. A major part of the fortress on the Eastern side was completely destroyed by bombardment, and almost the whole citadel was on fire for four days. What’s left now is just a small piece of the past grandeur. Today’s Ark is naturally and deservedly one of the major tourist attractions in Bukhara and in the whole Uzbekistan. A big portion of its spectacular wall, about 800 meters long and 20 meters high, is restored to allow us to see how they looked like in their better years. The entrance goes through a spectacular Western gate and then the path leads you through a wide corridor to the Djami mosque and the main terrace with a wide view at Bukhara and from where you can get to all the remaining places in the citadel: a couple of museums, Emir’s quarters and the throne yard, and the office of the prime minister. You can also persuade one of the local guides, whom you just can’t miss when entering the fortress, to show you the eastern part of the Ark for a very modest extra price. Prepare to pass through a rough terrain, which is now everything what’s left of this part of the citadel, but when you reach the eastern edge of this territory, you will be rewarded by a spectacular panoramic view at Bukhara historical center.

Ark Fortress, Bukhara

ARK FORTRESS, BUKHARA The ancient legend credits the construction of the Ark citadel to Siyavush – an epic hero of the Central Asia. Young Siyavush fell in love with the local Khan’s daughter, and the father, as it often happens in legends, decided to put him to a ...

Updated: Apr 06, 2007 5:12am PST



All photos © Anton Y. Kovalenko