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Region
Khorezm
An ancient oasis civilisation on the Amu Darya, and the home of Khiva — a walled inner city so complete that it became Uzbekistan's first UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
- Administrative centre
- Urgench
- Area
- 6,050 km²
Khiva from the walls
What to see
Kalta Minor
A fat, brilliantly glazed minaret abandoned at 29 metres — it was meant to be far taller.
Directions
Islam Khoja Minaret
Khiva's tallest minaret, 57 metres of banded tilework, finished in 1910.
Directions
Juma Mosque of Khiva
A hall of more than two hundred carved wooden columns, the oldest over a thousand years old.
Directions
Pahlavon Mahmud Mausoleum
The shrine of Khiva's patron saint — wrestler, poet and furrier — under a green-tiled dome.
Directions
Tosh-Hovli Palace
Allakuli Khan's palace of the 1830s, its harem courtyard lined with blue majolica.
Directions