Ichan-Kala: open-air city-museum
Description:
What is Ichan-Kala? In ancient times, Khiva, like other eastern cities, was divided into three parts: the fortress - Kunya-Ark, the suburb - Dishan-Kala and the city - Ichan-Kala.
Today Ichan-Kala is an open-air museum - the old part of the city, surrounded by a fortress wall and turned into a state historical and archaeological museum-reserve. It is here that an exotic image of the eastern city is preserved on a huge territory of 26 hectares. But the most striking thing is that Ichan-Kala is not just a frozen city-museum, but a living inhabited part of the city. Up to 300 families live here, mostly engaged in craftsmanship.
The clay wall (more than 2 km long, up to 10 m high and 5-6 m thick), the surrounding city has four gates - on each side of the world. The west gate is Ata Darwaza. The Bagcha Gate leads to Urgench, the former capital of Khorezm, the Palvan Gate opens the road to the Amu Darya and further east, and the Tash Gate opens in the south direction.
About 60 historical buildings have been preserved in Ichan-Kala. Here you can see such unique historical monuments as: the complex of the Kunya-Ark citadel, the complex of the Tash-Khauli Palace, the Kalta Minor minaret completely covered with glazed tiles, the famous Juma mosque with its 213 carved columns, the symbol of Khiva - the Islam-Khoja minaret and much more.