Uzbekistan local time |
Islam Hojja Madrassah and Minaret is a peculiar architectural complex. The madrassah features a large domed hall and 42 hujras (rooms for students). Next to the madrassah there stands Uzbekistan’s highest minaret. The history preserved the name of its architect – Usto Khudaibergen Hojji.
Islam Hojja Minaret is a huge brick tower, circular in section. Being 56 metres in height, it surpasses the Kalyan minaret in Bukhara. The perimeter of its base is almost 12 metres. The minaret considerably tapers to the top, which makes it look slender and strong. The minaret tower is crowned with open-work lantern with graceful cornice and a small dome with golden top. The minaret trunk is beautifully decorated with ornamental white and blue glazed ceramic bands alternating with figured setting of polished bricks. Islam Hojja Minaret is a matter of pride for Khiva citizens. It dominates Khiva and is visible everywhere in the ancient city, making it difficult for a tourist to be lost.
Those who fancy panoramic views from the top of the minaret will have to clamber 175 steps of steep winding staircase, from time to time helping themselves with both hands and feet. But all these efforts will seem really rewarding once you are atop of the minaret: a breathtaking panorama of oriental city from a fairy tale, green cotton fields practically approaching the walls of the ancient city, and in the distance, a row of sandy dunes dimly shimmering in the torrid haze. Around the minaret there are numerous detached flat-roofed adobe houses, a labyrinth of narrow winding streets, the towers of the minarets and the domes of the mosques sparkling in the sunshine, meandering chain of the ancient city outer wall.
The construction of the madrassah and the minaret was completed in 1910 and it became the last large-scale architectural complex of Khiva khans.