Khiva, Uzbekistan, October 2009
Crossing the Kyzylkum desert between Bukhara and Khiva.
The open wooden door is the doorway to our hotel in Khiva.
Street in Khiva.
Kalta-minor, a huge unfinished minaret in Khiva. It was never completed after the death of the Khan who was building it.
Islam Khodja minaret, the highest building in Khiva.
Islam Khodja minaret. Decorative ceramic tile alternates with the brick.
Carved wooden pillars in a madrassah now functioning as a museum.
Carved wooden pillars in Juma Mosque - 213 of them, supporting a flat (not domed) roof.
Carving a new pillar. We don't know if this would be for a restoration or for new construction.
Room in the summer palace complex, ornately painted plaster relief. The piece of furniture is not a bed, but a sitting platform, which, if it was in use, would be lined with cushions and might have a low table set in the center. We saw less ornate verions everywhere: in restaurants, in home and hotel courtyards, and sometimes even on the sidewalk outside homes.
City walls, taken from the Ark (Citadel). The walls separate the Ichan-Kala (inner city, where almost all of the historical buildings are) from the Dishan-Kala, the modern part of the city around it.
Khiva at sunset, taken from the watch tower in the Ark.
Khiva at night.
Crossing the Kyzylkum desert between Bukhara and Khiva.
The open wooden door is the doorway to our hotel in Khiva.
Street in Khiva.
Kalta-minor, a huge unfinished minaret in Khiva. It was never completed after the death of the Khan who was building it.
Islam Khodja minaret, the highest building in Khiva.
Islam Khodja minaret. Decorative ceramic tile alternates with the brick.
Carved wooden pillars in a madrassah now functioning as a museum.
Carved wooden pillars in Juma Mosque - 213 of them, supporting a flat (not domed) roof.
Carving a new pillar. We don't know if this would be for a restoration or for new construction.
Room in the summer palace complex, ornately painted plaster relief. The piece of furniture is not a bed, but a sitting platform, which, if it was in use, would be lined with cushions and might have a low table set in the center. We saw less ornate verions everywhere: in restaurants, in home and hotel courtyards, and sometimes even on the sidewalk outside homes.
City walls, taken from the Ark (Citadel). The walls separate the Ichan-Kala (inner city, where almost all of the historical buildings are) from the Dishan-Kala, the modern part of the city around it.
Khiva at sunset, taken from the watch tower in the Ark.
Khiva at night.