Islam Khodja: Khiva's tallest minaret
The Islam Khodja (or Islam Khoja) ensemble combines the smallest madrasah and the tallest minaret of Khiva. It stands in the south-eastern part of the Itchan Kala old town. At about 57 m the minaret is taller than the Kalyan minaret of Bukhara (about 46 m), which its builders wanted to outdo. The ensemble was built in 1908–1910 on the orders of Islam Khodja, the grand vizier of the Khivan Khanate under Muhammad Rakhim Khan II (1863–1910) and his son Isfandiyar Khan (1910–1920).
Tours visiting Islam Khodja
The tours below all include the Islam Khodja minaret and madrasah, usually as part of a full guided day in Khiva.
Four Stan Tour through Central Asia
Four countries: Issyk-Kul, Almaty, Khujand, Istaravshan, Dushanbe, Samarkand, Bukhara and walled Khiva.
Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan tour
Issyk-Kul, Jeti-Oguz and a yurt night at Song-Kol Lake, then the Fergana Valley, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.
Classic Uzbekistan Tour
Samarkand's Registan and Gur-e-Amir, Shakhrisabz, the old city of Bukhara, the Kyzylkum Desert and Khiva.
Khiva 2 days Tour
Fly or take the night train to Khiva, whose walled old town of Ichan Kala is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Uzbekistan Navruz Tour
The Navruz spring festival in Samarkand with the Registan and Gur-e Amir, then Shakhrisabz, Bukhara and Khiva.
Khiva Bukhara Samarkand 5 days tour
The three great Silk Road cities by train: Ichan Kala in Khiva, the Ark of Bukhara and Gur-e Amir in Samarkand.
Climbing the minaret
A narrow spiral staircase of about 175 steps leads to the top of the minaret. The climb costs 100,000 som extra (2026) on top of the Itchan Kala ticket, and the number of visitors at the top at a time is limited. The view covers the whole walled city and the desert beyond. The minaret closes around 18:00, so a sunset climb is possible only in the cooler months; in summer, go early in the morning before the heat.
History
The minaret and the madrasah were built in 1908–1910 by Islam Khodja, the reforming grand vizier of Khiva and father-in-law of Isfandiyar Khan. The madrasah now houses the Museum of Khorezm Applied Art, with embroidered robes, metalwork, leatherwork, tiles and wood and stone carving, and since 2026 its exhibits have labels with QR codes in English, Uzbek and Russian.
Islam Khodja
While Khiva entered the 20th centurey, an urgent need for reforms was needed and at the culling edge of these reforms was the Grand Vizier, Islam Khodja, who quickly gained the respect of the people by employing a public school and hospital and the wrath of the clergy by initiating a series of educational reforms. Under his progressive rule, a European-style school was built, long-distance telegraph brought to the city and a hospital built. Islam Khodja was though assassinated on the command of his arch-enemy Nazar Beg in 1913.
Islam Khoja Minaret
The Islam Khodja minaret, harmonious in shape and wrapped in sparkling bands of glazed tiles, quickly became the most striking symbol of Itchan Kala when it was built. Its top is the highest point from which to see the whole of Khiva.
The trunk of the minaret, 9.5 m across at the base, narrows as it rises, and its brick decoration underlines its monumentality. The bands of glazed patterns, mainly blue, dark blue, white and turquoise, have unique ornaments. For beauty and grace only the much older Kalyan minaret in Bukhara can be compared to it.
Islam Khoja Madrassa
Islam Khodja madrasah occupies an essential spot in the Ichan-Kala ensemble, serving as a background to the Islam Khodja minaret with its adjoining main facade. Its small courtyard was constructed with 42 single-story hudzhras. The second floor includes only the entrance group and is decorated with a magnificent majolica facade. Dark-blue-white majolica facings, tympanums and glazed pattern strips are used in the decor of the madrasah’s main facade. The madrasah’s south-eastern part has an enormous low dome. This madrasah is a unique architectural construction, that reveals the influence of time and the national masters’ spirit of creative inspiration.
Masters Bolta Vaisov and Madiminov carried out the madrasah’s glaze decoration based on Ishmukham-mad Khudaiberdiev’s sketches. The architects’ and masters’ skills are visible in the architectural forms which contrast the combinations, skilfully used on the limited space. The mikhrob (prayer niche in the mosque wall, facing Mecca) is finished with majolica and a carved gunch. The 42 rooms of the madrassah now hold a museum of applied arts, displaying local arts ranging from women’s embroidered chetvan robes to the original carved wooden plaque of the Ota Darvoza. Metal-chasing and leatherwork, tile and ganch and marble and wood carvings are all represented. The mosque is crowned with a characteristically Persian-shaped dome.
In front of the madrassah there is the first Russian school built in Khiva (1912), which today houses a small exhibition devoted to Uzbekistan’s first photographer Khudaybergon Devanov (1879-1940). For some time Devanov was the official photographer of Muhammed Rakhim Khan, providing him unparalleled access. The wonderful images reveal an uneasy mingling of the ancient and the Soviet, from portraits of khans to political meetings, all developed from enormous glass negatives.
Sights of Khiva
Written by Anssi Karppinen, Central Asia Guide · Page updated