The Islam Khoja complex is Khiva's youngest major monument, built between 1908 and 1910 by the reformist vizier Islam Khoja under the reign of Muhammad Rahim Khan II.
The minaret rises 57 metres in nine bands of glazed brick, alternating turquoise, blue and white. Its taper is steeper than earlier Central Asian minarets — a late-period Khivan innovation. A spiral staircase of 118 steps climbs to the observation balcony, from which the entire Ichan Kala lies below on one side and the palm-and-mudbrick countryside on the other.
The madrasa next to it is small (42 student cells) but functions today as the Khiva Museum of Applied Arts, with high-quality collections of: - Karakalpak jewellery (silver and coral belts, headpieces). - Khorezm suzani embroidery. - 19th-century carved wooden doors from demolished merchants' houses. - Ceramics from Rishton and Gijduvan.
Islam Khoja himself was assassinated in 1913, aged 40, likely at the order of conservative religious factions who opposed his push for railway and telegraph modernisation.
Khiva in photos
A short visual companion to this entry — photographs of Khiva from our travel archive.
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