Itchan Kala

Infobox World Heritage Site
Name = Itchan Kala


imagecaption= City walls of khiva
State_Party = flag|Uzbekistan
Type = Cultural
Criteria = iii, iv, v
ID = 543
Link =
Region = Asia-Pacific
Coordinates =
Year = 2001
Session = 25
Extension =
Danger =

Itchan Kala is the walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. Since 1990, it has been protected as the World Heritage Site.

The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, dating primarily from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the tenth century and rebuilt from 1788 to 1789, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures.

The most spectacular features of Itchan Kala are its crenellated brick walls and four gates at each side of the rectangular fortress. Although the foundations are believed to have been laid in the tenth century, present-day 10-meters-high walls were erected mostly in the late seventeenth century and later repaired.

Gallery

External links

* [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/543 Itchan Kala - UNESCO World Heritage Centre]