Dedicated to the memory of our mentor Saburdzhana Yusupov, who with his interesting stories and tales taught us to love the motherland, native nature, our favorite city Khiva

Bastion of Akshih Bobo

According to legends, this place was once the seat of the one who lived in the XIV century in Khiva, one of the major religious leaders of that time Sheikh Mukhtar Vali. Archaeological excavations have confirmed that the hill is very ancient, and was rebuilt in the XVII century. The remains of two-storey buildings, preserved in an elevated watchtower served the palace later. In the interior rooms of fortification in the XIX century there were a workshop for casting cannons and powder stock. The construction in 1991 was again restored. Nowadays tourists and visitors coming to Khiva from high aivans can observe the city and its surroundings.

In the rooms of Kunya-Ark palace currently there is the exposition of the history department of "Ancient Khorezm", rooms of interior mint ("Zarbhana"), kurinishhona ("Arzhana"), "Khorezm ceramic art," where tourists arriving in the museum are displayed exhibits broadly reflecting the history and culture of ancient Khorezm.


Madrasah of Muhammad Rahim Khan (Feruz)
The madrasah located opposite to the gates of Kunya-Arch was built under the decree of Sayyid Muhammad Rahimkhan II in 1871. For its large scales and majesty it is distinguished from other madrasahs of Khiva.
Single-storey cells built even long before the construction of the madrasah form a small courtyard before the main facade of the madrasah. From the side the square shopping arcades with high aivans adjoin to the hujras. The madrasah is high on the list in Khiva by the size of its area. In the madrasah there are premises of a summer and winter mosques, an audience (darskhana), as well as a library and residential hujras for students and teachers. The general architectural construction of the madrasah is slightly different from the generally accepted norms. Some supernatural kind of view expressed in large volumes of the building is felt. The yard of madrasah is surrounded by 76 single-storey cells designed for 152 students. From the outside the roof of hujras are limited by an obstacle in the form of a low wall (parapet) adjacent to the central two-story front facade of the madrasah. On both sides of a slender portal the five-arch gallery is located. The lobby group consists of eight calottes which is the largest number in a Central Asian madrasah. The patterned ornaments laid out from glazed bricks on the front walls repeat conventional forms. The structure of the court leaves a different impression with the visitor. A row of one-story courtyard hujras, high decorative portals and external blank wall together with beautiful turrets-guldasta on angles are a remarkable pattern.
By the Khan for the madrasah (source of income, providing activities of the madrasah) 2941 Tanap of land (2.5 Tanap - 1 hectare) was allocated as Waqf. In celebrations of opening of the madrasah decorated with exquisite majolica tiles, poets and scholars of that time who wrote laudatory chronograms and sang in their qasidas (odes) the power and generosity of the Khan were generously rewarded by the Khan. In addition expenditures on gifts to the courtiers, relatives, artisans and craftsmen who worked on the construction by the Khan himself personally 118 Tillia (gold coins) was handed out on this feast.

On the portal of the madrasah in Arabic the following words are written which give in translation this content:

“This blessed building has been erected on the behest of the Sultan of his time and Khaqan of the world, and the Caliph and a shadow Allah, the master of victories and glory, the lord of invincible power conquering the countries Sayyid Mohammad Rakhim Bahadurkhana date 1289 hijra (1872)”.

Above the door on a marble slab carved by master - engraver on marble, Pakhlavan Niyaz Khorezmi a chronogram in the form of poetry written in Farsi of a famous poet Kamil (Khorezmi):