Muhammad Amin Khan Madrasah

Muhammad Amin Khan, who ruled Khiva from 1845 to 1855, built the biggest madrasah the town had seen, right inside the west gate. It was finished in the early 1850s, and the khan then began the great minaret, Kalta Minor, in front of it. Both projects ended with his death in battle in 1855.

The building

The madrasah measures about 72 by 60 metres. Its façade has a tall central portal flanked by two storeys of arched niches, faced with tilework in turquoise, blue and white, and corner towers (guldasta) topped with small cupolas. Inside is a large square courtyard surrounded by 125 cells (hujra) on two floors, with a mosque, classrooms and a summer school. Unusually, many of the cells were designed as suites of two rooms with their own small vestibule, which made it a comfortable place to study by the standards of the day. Up to about 260 students are said to have lived here.

A court as well as a college

Besides teaching law and theology, the madrasah housed the supreme Muslim court of the khanate, where judges ruled on cases under Islamic law. Its size and its location at the main gate made it the most public of Khiva’s religious institutions.

Today

Since Soviet times the madrasah has been used as a hotel, with rooms in the old student cells. Non-guests can usually look at the portal and step into the entrance to see the courtyard. Stand back on the main street to see the façade and Kalta Minor together, the defining image of Khiva.