Allakuli Khan Madrasah, Caravanserai and Tim

Allakuli Khan (ruled 1825–1842) was the great builder of nineteenth-century Khiva. Besides the Tash-Hauli Palace he put up a group of buildings around the Palvan-Darvoza, the east gate, which was then the busiest entrance to the town and led to the main bazaar.

The caravanserai and the tim

The caravanserai, built in 1832–1833, is a two-storey courtyard with rooms for merchants and storage for their goods, and stalls facing outward. Beside it, the tim (1830s) is a covered market under a series of domes, lit by openings in the vaults, where traders, money-changers and craftsmen worked out of the sun. The two were designed to work together with the gate: caravans arrived, unloaded in the caravanserai and sold in the tim. Today both are again given over to trade, with shops selling carpets, silk, ceramics and souvenirs.

The madrasah

The Allakuli Khan Madrasah, built in 1834–1835, stands just north of the gate, on a cramped site squeezed in beside the gate. It has a high portal with blue-and-white tile panels, a courtyard of two-storey cells and, in its day, a library that was among the most important in the khanate. Opposite stands the older Kutlug Murad Inak Madrasah, so the gate is framed by two colleges.

Experiencing it

This is the liveliest corner of Ichan-Kala. Walk through the domed passage of the Palvan-Darvoza, then step into the tim and the caravanserai courtyard. It combines naturally with the nearby Tash-Hauli Palace, and the bazaar of the newer town lies just outside the gate.