Kunya-Ark Citadel

Kunya-Ark means “old citadel”. It was the town within the town: the residence of the khans, their council, their treasury and their prison, enclosed by its own walls against the western rampart of Ichan-Kala. A citadel stood here in the seventeenth century, traditionally dated to the reign of Arang Khan in the 1680s, and it was rebuilt and enlarged by the Kungrat khans in the nineteenth. At its height the complex held a harem, an arsenal, stables, a mint and a powder workshop; much of that has gone, but what survives is among the finest work in Khiva.

The reception courtyard

The heart of the Ark is the Kurinish-khana, the hall of audiences, where the khan received ambassadors and petitioners. It is a high iwan on a carved wooden column, faced on every side with blue, white and turquoise majolica, looking onto a courtyard with a round brick platform. On that platform the khan’s yurt was pitched in winter: the rulers of Khiva, of nomadic descent, preferred felt to brick in the cold months. The present hall dates from the early nineteenth century.

The summer mosque and the mint

The summer mosque, open on one side to catch the breeze, has walls of tiles in blue and white and a ceiling painted in red, orange and gold. Nearby the former mint (zarbkhana) now holds a small museum of Khiva coins and paper money, including the khanate’s silk banknotes of around 1920.

Ak-Sheikh Bobo bastion

In the north-east corner of the Ark rises the Ak-Sheikh Bobo bastion, the oldest part of the citadel, named after a holy man said to have lived there. It served as a lookout over the town and the desert, and its roof is the classic place to see the domes of Ichan-Kala at once: Kalta Minor in front, the Juma Mosque minaret and the Islam Khodja Minaret behind. The climb is a separate ticket, and the platform is small and busy at sunset, so go a little early.