Uzbekistan part 3 - Khiva part 2
Jul. 3rd, 2011 06:30 pmMore photos from Khiva today, with a few more (mostly of the city walls and a view from the rooftops) still to come...
Included this pic more for the camel than anything else:

Now here's a proper minaret, from the madrassah of Islam-Khodja, though it's relatively new as it was only built in 1910:

And here's a shot of the madrassah itself, with various tombs:

An interior for once with no tilework in sight!

Here's a shot of the front of the mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud, a famous 13th century poet, philosopher and wrestler (and until recently, wrestling was the national sport of Uzbekistan!) built early in the 19th century:

Another view of the same mausoleum (the largest dome sits behind the facade in the previous picture) with other domes in the background:

Inside the city, it's not all tilework...

In one of the courtyards of the palace - the round raised brickwork circles are the bases for yurts where the emir's visitors would stay/wait for him to see them:

More tilework, though this shows a more realistic side of things as it's not all shiny and restored - on a lot of the walls you can tell old from new and see where the restoration work has been done, but clearly at some point it had to stop...

Meanwhile, inside... I guess if counting sheep didn't work, you could always try self-hypnosis by tilework!

And last for today, but by no means least, I realised I hadn't included a good shot of the ceilings in the palace complex, which are painted rather than tiled:

More pics of Khiva to come, as well as some from a hike round a couple of desert fortresses before it's off to Bokhara!
Included this pic more for the camel than anything else:

Now here's a proper minaret, from the madrassah of Islam-Khodja, though it's relatively new as it was only built in 1910:

And here's a shot of the madrassah itself, with various tombs:

An interior for once with no tilework in sight!

Here's a shot of the front of the mausoleum of Pahlavan Mahmud, a famous 13th century poet, philosopher and wrestler (and until recently, wrestling was the national sport of Uzbekistan!) built early in the 19th century:

Another view of the same mausoleum (the largest dome sits behind the facade in the previous picture) with other domes in the background:

Inside the city, it's not all tilework...

In one of the courtyards of the palace - the round raised brickwork circles are the bases for yurts where the emir's visitors would stay/wait for him to see them:

More tilework, though this shows a more realistic side of things as it's not all shiny and restored - on a lot of the walls you can tell old from new and see where the restoration work has been done, but clearly at some point it had to stop...

Meanwhile, inside... I guess if counting sheep didn't work, you could always try self-hypnosis by tilework!

And last for today, but by no means least, I realised I hadn't included a good shot of the ceilings in the palace complex, which are painted rather than tiled:

More pics of Khiva to come, as well as some from a hike round a couple of desert fortresses before it's off to Bokhara!
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