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Itchan Kala walls and gates

Thick mud-brick walls with rounded towers that ring the inner town of Khiva, entered through four gates facing the four directions.

FortressesUNESCO World Heritage

About the place

The walls of Itchan Kala are built of sun-dried mud brick and packed earth, sloping outwards at the base and topped with crenellations. Rounded bastions break the line at regular intervals. The walls have been repaired and rebuilt many times, and their present shape reflects the work of the khanate period.

Each side has a gate: Ota Darvoza in the west, Bakcha Darvoza in the north, Palvan Darvoza in the east and Tosh Darvoza in the south. The West Gate is the usual entrance for visitors and the place to buy tickets.

A section of the northern wall near Bakcha Darvoza is open for walking. From the top you can look across the flat roofs to the domes and minarets inside, and out over the newer town beyond.

Sources (1)

  1. 1.Wikidata

Nearby

  • Bogcha Darvoza (North Gate)Fortresses

    Under 1 km awayUNESCO World Heritage

    Bogcha Darvoza (North Gate)

    The nineteenth-century north gate of Khiva's walled Itchan Kala, a domed passage flanked by towers with rooms for guards and customs officers.

  • Amir Tura MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Amir Tura Madrasa

    A plain-fronted 1870s madrasa near the north gate of Itchan Kala in Khiva, paid for by the elder brother of Muhammad Rahim Khan II.

  • Tura Murad Tura MinaretEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Tura Murad Tura Minaret

    One of the smallest minarets in Khiva's Itchan Kala, built in 1888 by the khan's younger brother, the poet Tura Murad, by the north-east corner of Kunya-Ark.

  • Uch Avliyo MausoleumMausoleums

    Under 1 km away

    Uch Avliyo Mausoleum

    A plain 16th-century tomb of "three saints" with a carved wooden door, on the square by Tash-Hauli palace in Khiva's Itchan Kala.