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Juma Mosque

A low, flat-roofed Friday mosque whose single hall is held up by a forest of carved wooden columns, some much older than the building itself.

EnsemblesUNESCO World HeritageLate 18th century, with older columnsAbout 30 minutes to see

About the place

From the outside the Juma Mosque is plain, but inside it is one of the most memorable spaces in Khiva: a wide, dim hall with more than two hundred wooden columns set in rows, lit by two openings in the roof.

The present building dates from the late 18th century, but it reused columns from earlier mosques. Look closely and you will see different carving styles, from simple early patterns to dense floral designs, and different bases, some of them on stone.

Next to the mosque stands its minaret, which can be climbed by a steep, dark stairway for a view over the roofs of Itchan Kala.

Sources (1)

  1. 1.Wikidata

Nearby

  • Itchan KalaEnsembles

    Under 1 km awayUNESCO World Heritage

    Itchan Kala

    The walled inner town of Khiva, where madrasas, mosques, minarets and khans' palaces stand close together along narrow lanes.

  • Pakhlavan Mahmud MausoleumMausoleums

    Under 1 km awayUNESCO World Heritage

    Pakhlavan Mahmud Mausoleum

    The shrine of Khiva's patron saint, a poet and wrestler, under a turquoise dome; a working place of pilgrimage with richly tiled rooms.

  • Qozi Kalon MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Qozi Kalon Madrasa

    A 1905 madrasa by the Juma Mosque in Khiva's Itchan Kala, built for the chief judge of Khorezm and now home to a museum of Khorezm music.

  • Arab Muhammad Khan MadrasaEnsembles

    Under 1 km away

    Arab Muhammad Khan Madrasa

    One of the oldest madrasas in Khiva's Itchan Kala, founded in 1616 by Arab Muhammad Khan and rebuilt on two floors by Allakuli Khan in 1838.