Khiva’s Itchan Kala: Uzbekistan’s living museum city

Khiva is a desert-oasis city in western Uzbekistan. At its heart stands Itchan Kala, a walled inner town where mosques, madrasas, a palace and ordinary houses share the same streets. This article explains what Itchan Kala is, how Khiva rose to power, what you can see inside the walls, and why UNESCO wanted the people to stay.

Khiva, Uzbekistan: where it is and what it was called

Khiva lies in Uzbekistan’s Khorezm region, on the west side of the Amu Darya river. Uzbek speakers write the name Xiva. Nobody knows for sure where the name comes from. Several accounts exist, and they contradict each other.

The older form of the name is better documented. The town was called Khivaq or Kivaq. Writers and official documents kept using that form until the early 20th century. So if you read an older source and the spelling looks odd, it is the same place.

Settlement here is old. Encyclopaedia Iranica says people lived on the site of today’s Khiva in the 4th–3rd centuries BCE. By the 10th century, Arab geographers were writing about Khiva as a town.

Why water and the desert shaped Khiva

Khiva sits close to the Karakum Desert. A town in that position needs a reliable water source. Khiva got its water from one of the large irrigation canals that drew from the Amu Darya.

Think of the tap in your kitchen. You turn it and water comes, and you rarely ask where it started. In Khiva the “tap” was a canal from a river. If the canal failed, the oasis would fail with it.

This position also made Khiva a stopping place. Itchan Kala was the walled inner town that gave caravans their last stop before the desert crossing toward Iran. Travelers rested, restocked and then set out across empty ground.

What Itchan Kala is

Itchan Kala is the inner town of Khiva. UNESCO describes it as a walled city with a rectangular plan of about 650 by 400 metres. It covers 26 hectares. The defensive walls reach about 10 metres in height.

That is small enough to cross on foot. Yet UNESCO’s statement of outstanding universal value records 51 historic monuments and 250 dwellings inside. The monuments are not scattered across a wide landscape. They sit shoulder to shoulder, with houses between them.

Outside the walls lies the outer town, Dishan Kala. You will see this name in UNESCO documents. When the 1990 decision was written, the Committee asked for a wide buffer zone, which corresponds to Dishan Kala, to be protected as well.

The Khiva Khanate: from Khorezm to a capital

The state known as the Khanate of Khiva had a different name in local sources. The most common one was Khorezm, or the “province of Khorezm.” So Khorezm in a document often means the khanate.

According to Encyclopaedia Iranica, Khiva became the capital of this state under Arab Muhammad Khan, who ruled from 1603 to 1622.

The khanate lost its independence step by step. In 1873 Russian troops took Khiva. In the same year a treaty stripped the khanate of the right to run its own foreign policy. The khan still existed, but he could no longer deal with other states on his own terms.

The end came in 1920. The Khanate of Khiva was abolished and the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic was proclaimed in its place.

One number shows how religious and learned life filled the city. By 1920, Khiva had 81 mosques and 64 madrasas.

Inside the walls: three places to know

The Juma Mosque

UNESCO gives exact measurements for the Juma (Friday) Mosque. Its interior is 55 by 46 metres. Inside stand 212 columns. Light enters through two octagonal roof lanterns. If you walk in, count the columns as you go. The number is large enough that the room feels like a forest of posts.

Tash Hauli Palace

Tash Hauli was built between 1830 and 1838, in the time of Alla Kulu Khan. This date comes from an account by Uzbekistan’s heritage directorate, which relies on the building’s own inscriptions.

The palace has three main parts:

• the harem;
• the mehmonhona, used for receptions and feasts;
• the arzhana, where complaints and lawsuits were heard.

So one palace combined family life, hospitality and justice. The ruler’s private rooms and the place where petitioners came were part of the same complex.

The unfinished Kalta Minor

The Kalta Minor is the “short minaret.” Muhammad Amin Khan ordered its construction in 1852. He died in 1855, and the work stopped. The tower stayed short.

What was finished is striking. The outer surface of the unfinished minaret is covered entirely in glazed tile and majolica. A tower that never reached its planned height still wears a complete skin of color.

Why people still live in the museum

Itchan Kala gained the status of a state architectural and historical reserve in 1967. From 1969 it worked as a museum-reserve.

When UNESCO inscribed the site in 1990, the World Heritage Committee recommended that the traditional population of Itchan Kala be able to continue living in the town. This is why people call it a living museum city. The 250 dwellings in UNESCO’s record are not just exhibits. They are part of what the listing protects.

The same Committee decision asked for protection of the buffer zone around the inner town, which corresponds to Dishan Kala. The listing covers the walled town, but its setting matters too.

The Committee inscribed Itchan Kala under cultural criteria iii, iv and v.

Timeline

• 4th–3rd centuries BCE: A settlement already stands where Khiva is today.
• 10th century: Arab geographers mention Khiva as a town.
• 1603–1622: Khiva becomes the capital under Arab Muhammad Khan, according to Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• 1830–1838: Tash Hauli Palace is built in the time of Alla Kulu Khan.
• 1852: Muhammad Amin Khan orders work to begin on the Kalta Minor.
• 1855: Muhammad Amin Khan dies, and construction of the Kalta Minor stops.
• 1873: Russian troops take Khiva. The khanate loses the right to conduct its own foreign policy.
• 1920: The khanate is abolished. The Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic is proclaimed.
• 1967: Itchan Kala becomes a state architectural and historical reserve.
• 1969: Itchan Kala begins to function as a museum-reserve.
• 1990: UNESCO inscribes Itchan Kala on the World Heritage List.
• 2019: Khorezm’s Lazgi dance is entered on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Details you won’t find in guidebooks

• The old name stayed in paperwork. The form Khivaq or Kivaq appeared in literature and official documents until the early 20th century.
• The count of 1920. In the year the khanate ended, the city had 81 mosques and 64 madrasas.
• A mosque with a lot of columns. The Juma Mosque’s 55 by 46 metre interior holds 212 columns and has two octagonal roof lanterns for light.
• The enemies are small. UNESCO lists termites that damage the timber, and soil salinity and damp that affect foundations, among the threats to the site’s conservation. Wood, earth and salt are quieter dangers than war, but they are persistent ones.
• A short tower in full dress. The Kalta Minor never grew tall, but its outside is covered completely in glazed tile and majolica.

Lazgi: the dance of Khorezm

Khiva’s region also has a living tradition. In 2019 UNESCO added the Khorezm Lazgi dance to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

UNESCO’s event record lists the third International Lazgi Dance Festival in Khiva, dated 25–30 April 2026. The monuments tell you about the khans. The dance shows that Khorezm culture is still practiced today.

FAQ

Sources

1. Encyclopaedia Iranica — KHIVA iranicaonline.org
2. UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Itchan Kala whc.unesco.org
3. UNESCO — World Heritage Committee decision 14 COM VII.A whc.unesco.org
4. Uzbekistan Council of Ministers, historic buildings directorate — Tash Hauli Palace dkm.gov.uz
5. Official tourism portal of Uzbekistan — Kalta Minor Minaret in Khiva uzbekistan.travel
6. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage — Khorazm dance, Lazgi ich.unesco.org
7. Wikipedia — Khiva en.wikipedia.org
8. Vikipedi — Hive tr.wikipedia.org

Image: Khiva, Uzbekistan 1859.jpg — Eugene Schuyler, Public domain