graculus: (Snape)
[personal profile] graculus
More 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!

Date: 2011-07-03 09:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gategrrl.livejournal.com
I love the shapes and forms involved in the building. That IS a lot of tilework!

Date: 2011-07-03 11:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] penfold-x.livejournal.com
The fencing in the emir's courtyard--is that all wood? Beautiful, but yikes on he maintenance.

Date: 2011-07-04 11:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] graculus.livejournal.com
Closer up you can tell more about what's old and what's new, depending on how good the restoration work has been - in some places it's very good, in others not so much. Even so, the overall effect is absolutely stunning!

Date: 2011-07-04 11:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] graculus.livejournal.com
The woodwork varies in terms of how original it is - the main issue is sun damage rather than damp, but I guess if you're the emir then you don't have to worry about little things like maintenance? ;)

Date: 2011-07-06 08:47 pm (UTC)
siluria: (General_TTrate)
From: [personal profile] siluria
I could do magic-eye on that tile work! :)

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