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Allakulikhan Caravanserai & Tim
In 1831 in the eastern part of Ichan-Qala a lake formed by the wastewater, drainage channel (zakhkash), filled up by khashar (community care), and on its place a large market square was equipped. That was the chronicler Hudayberdi Ibn Qoshmuhammed wrote the following lines: - "Khiva market occupies a small area. Its area is approximately 5.6 tanap (local unit of area measurement) and has been expanded at the expense of a small lake located in the eastern side of the city. In 1831 on the order of His Highness the residents of Khiva In 1831 under the decree of their highness the population of Khiva within 45 days buried his land and filled out completely and flattened it and afterwards there was built bazaar (market). A little further on a large Charbagh (a country estate with a garden) was settled down, where fruit and decorative trees were planted. Previously, below from it bazaar for sale of grain used to be placed there. Now the baqqals (small traders, groceries), the people frying fish and cooking various foods sit there. This place is modestly called "rasta Bazaar" ("a market row").
In this market built in Khiva in 30`s of the XIX century there were malls for sale of grain, fruit, soap and candles. There was a number of barber's shops and small trading houses, in the place adjoining them there was a place for slave trade. As a result of development of commercial relations of Khiva with Bukhara, Iran and especially with Russia in 1833, after completion of construction of the Harem, Alla Kuli-Khan started construction of the caravanserai.
After construction of the two-storied building of a caravanserai near the fortification walls adjoining the market, there emerged one more market square. After that multidome Tim (a trade passage) was built before a caravanserai. Unfortunately such cozy area after one-one and a half years, as a result of construction of madrasah Alla Kuli-Khan, lost its attractive appearance. The caravanserai and a covered market (tim) were built by Khan of Khiva Alla Kuli Khan in 1833. The caravanserai by the appearance reminds Tim (covered market) of Abdullakhan in Bukhara. The caravanserai was built with the adaptation for receiving caravans arriving from foreign countries, its two gates (western and eastern) provided smooth arrival of goods loaded with on camels into the caravanserai and departure them back to their home countries. Through the gate established in the middle of walls of a caravanserai and facing south there was an entrance to the commercial center – trading house. The trading house was built in two floors consisting of 105 hujras (cells). Rooms of the first floor served as the shopping malls for the merchants, and rooms of the top floor functioned as mekhmankhana (hotel). The building is planned very conveniently and simply, it consists of the spacious yard and two-storied cells surrounding the yard of the caravanserai. All hujras of the caravanserai are turned by a facade into the yard. Only the second row hujras (cells) located on the southern part, like hujras (cells) of the madrasahs face the square. Hujras are overlain in the traditional way - "balkhi" style in the form of the arches of an identical form. They clearly differ by the row of arches of a facade of the yard. The road leading into the courtyard is bounded from the two sides by portals. Inside the wings of the portal are spiral stone staircase leading to the second floor. At that time, high hujras lower floor freights were stored , while the upper floors served mainly as premises. The rent for the storehouse in a year made 10 soums, for khujdras (for housing) 5 soums counting on silver coins (tanga) (equivalent of that time). The appearance of the caravanserai reminds madrasah, but it also has the peculiarities and differences For example, if to get inside the madrasah one had to pass, bypassing it from the outside through a special room here you can straight with the court, with the freight under the twin domes of pass into the courtyard of the caravanserai. So that to make it more convenient for loading goods - the middle of the courtyard is slightly downgraded. Due to the fact that the building was overloaded with the functions of mekhmankhana (hotel), barn and shopping mall at the same time, to the front of the caravanserai, from the south, was attached (indoor shopping mall) a bit later. Currently building Tim and of the caravanserai seem to be a single whole, but within the walls of these buildings the remains of the portal of the caravanserai, the lower part of the arch and the remains of the corner towers guldasta (floral bouquet) still can be seen. Noteworthy is the story of the Tim. Two rows of small domes converge at the larger dome in front of the caravanserai gates. Exactly the same is there at the entrance to the dome in the western part of the Tim. Skilled Khiva masters very skillfully constructed domed Dalan (spacious long corridors). Despite the fact that the bases of the domes of a complex shape (in a quadrilateral or trapezoid form, or in a hexagonal shape), the masters easily managed in a peculiar manner to find a constructive solution. The tim`s interior is illuminated through the holes arranged under the domes. According to the established requirements of the time foreign merchants hujras rented one for a few years. A trade caravans that were in constant motion provided these merchants with goods. This implies that in this caravanserai they traded not only by the local, but also Russian, English, Iranian and Afghan goods. In the market it was possible to find a Khivan alacha (striped cotton fabric of handicraft work), silk belts , as well as, unique jewelry of the Khorezm masters, English cloth, Iranian silk with mixed yarns, silk fabrics, wadded blankets, belts, Bukhara boots, the Chinese porcelain, sugar, tea and there are a lot of various such kind small goods. For keeping the order in the market and the correctness of weights there observed specially appointed rais (a person in charge). If someone committed a breach of the established procedure or norms, abuse and treachery, he immediately publicly chastised the offender with blows of Darra (thick belt whip) in accordance with the law.
In caravanserai there was located Divankhana (a room for special government officials) where the prices were set for the goods brought by merchants, traders and in this institution there was a room for "Sarraf"s (moneychangers) who exchanged money of merchants from different countries at the existing rates. Here Divanbegi (Head of Finance) charged "Tamgha puli" (fee for stamping, permission stamp to import, export and sell goods), and the money went not to the Khan's treasury but was spent to the maintanance of the library of Alla Kuli Khan madrasah built in 1835. Presently the building of the caravanserai has been adapted, with preservation of ancient traditional architectural forms of the building, under a shopping center "Karavan-saray".
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