Hiva is the ancient city of Uzbekistan. According to historians, 2500 years ago, the city already existed. Surprisingly, but only here are preserved absolutely intact medieval buildings, thanks to which you can see all the beauty of the East.
In the city of Khiva Antiquity, literally at every step, this is a real open-air museum, but in which people continue to live. The children are laughing and playing and playing, the linen will dry, modern music sounds, but the feeling that now the carpet aircraft with a sitting alladin will appear because of the corner, is constantly present.
It is impossible to highlight what is worth visiting, and that the second is impossible in Khiva. Every brick, every street deserve to be seen. But still there are main attractions, see which is simply necessary.
Ichan-Cala
Most likely, acquaintance with Heva is worth starting with this architectural complex. The city in the city is exactly what is Ichan-Cala, who became the first city in Central Asia, which is under the protection of UNESCO. Ichan-Cala is an inner city, clearly demonstrating how classic Shahristan looked like.
Classic medieval Shahristan is residential buildings, shopping shops, craft workshops, government agencies, barracks - everything was surrounded by powerful walls, followed by suburbs, necropolis, caravan sheds.
Ichan-Cala looks like 200 300 500 years ago. It seems that time here is not moving. More than 400 different buildings are in powerful walls, the width of which reaches 6 meters, and the height is 10 meters. And this is despite the fact that the city itself covers an area equal to about one square kilometer. Ichan-feces are very compact, but to get around it take time, too much beauty around, which I want to touch and take a picture of the memory.
Mausoleum Pakhlavana Mahmuda
This architectural complex is made in the best traditions of Khorezm architecture. Pakhlavan (Bogatyr) Mahmoud, who lived in the XIII century was a philosopher and a poet, possessed a huge physical strength and ability to heal people. He is the patron of the city. Initially, the mausoleum building was very small, but the number of pilgrims grew from year to year and by 1810 the mausoleum was rebuilt.
Over the past 20 years, carved parts created, put a majolica cladding, decorated with verses and sayings of this person being revered.
Minaret Calta Minor
Forget everything you knew about minarets. You have never seen such a minaret. Minaret "Calta Minor" - symbol of the city. The giant construction is magnifyingly before the amazed tourist, and if you know that the foundation of the building goes to the ground by 15 meters, then the minaret already seems the top of the iceberg. The height of the minaret is 29 meters, and the diameter of more than 14 meters.
The building was designed with the settlement that the height would be 70 meters, but in 1855 the ruler of the city was killed and the construction stopped. But despite the "closer" and the fact that minaret is more like an important barrel, the local population loves him very much and is proud of them. The building is completely lined with majolica and glazed tiles. Minaret was never used in his appointment, but ironically, he became one of the most beautiful hiv objects, while maintaining the original brightness and colorfulness.
Dishhan Cala
This is an "external" or "outdoor" city of Khiva. As it should be the outer city of Dishan-Cala has been preserved much worse than the inside. In essence, only a few gates out of ten remained from the city. But on this gate, you can judge how powerful the entire outermost city was. Gandyimian Darwaza, Khazarasp-Darwaz and Kosh-Darwaza - that's all the tourists can now see. Moreover, Gandyimyan Darwaz was rebuilt only in 1970 on the foundation found. In the Middle Ages, the gate was not easy to enter the city.
These were parts of a general defensive structure. In obligatory on both sides of the gate was shock tower, viewing galleries. The gate besides the Terrible role had a duty to demonstrate the power and wealth of the city, so they were trying to decorate them in every way: slabs and spokes from the Quran.
State Puppet Theater in the Khorezm region
In this puppet theater, it will be interesting even for adults. In addition to the wonderful idea, here you can plunge into history. All ideas are based on folk epic, dolls and scenery are created manually using ancient technologies. The feeling that you are in the medieval caravansea and you are entertained by visiting artists, does not leave for a second.
Everything is so kindly, so impregnated with a special spirit and a flavor, and it is simply surprising that all this still exists in the 21st century. All performances, and in the repertoire of the theater are more than 60, pass on the Uzbek language, but it absolutely does not interfere with the understanding of the plot, on the contrary, adds some highlight to all the action.
Museum of Avesta
Avesta is a collection of sacred texts written in anywhere else who does not occur - Avestian - one of the species of the ancient Original languages. Ancient monument to Iranian literature - Avesta. In addition to religious content, most of the literature of Christianity, Muslim and other beliefs are narrated by the history, social structure, people's lives. From ancient times, the ministers of different religions were designed to maintain and multiply knowledge. So the Sacred Book of Avesta contains philosophical treatises, historical entries, travel notes. The Avesta Museum is devoted not only to this great book book, but also the religion "Zoroastrianism" is one of the most ancient religions of the world.
It was Zoroastrians that became the authors of the sacred texts of the Avesta. The exposition of the museum is represented by various archaeological artifacts, scenes from the daily life of the medieval resident of the Hyiv, craft products.
Hiva is one of the most beautiful cities of Uzbekistan. City Museum, the city oriental fairy tale. Here, magnificent mosques, beautiful minarets, narrow ornate streets. And when he suddenly hesitated, enveloping the city, calling for Muzzin's prayer and it seems that the story came to life and you suddenly find yourself in a distant past. It is surprising that the city has been so well preserved and especially strange that there are few tourists here. But thanks to this lack, you can get lost in this town and fully immerse yourself in the contemplation of the East.
