Khiva - Madrasah Khodjamberdiboy

The Madrasah Khodjamberdiboy (1688 – 1834) was built in 1688 in Ichan Kala near the eastern gate Palvan Darvaza, in front of the madrasah of Allakuli Khan in Khiva. In 1834, Allakuli-khan built a new large mosque and partially demolished and rebuilt the existing one.

This created two small courtyards separate from each other and the madrasah was named Khurjun because it resembled a leather saddle bag, Khurjun. There are 16 hujras and a vaulted quadratic room – Darskhona. The entrance doors are decorated with wooden carvings.

The Madrasah Khodjamberdiboy is a one-storey brick building built in 1688, as mentioned by the inscription on the carved doors.

The Madrasah apparently got its name “Khurjun” after the construction of the Allakuli-Khan Madrasah in Khiva, when a large peshtak of Khodjamberdiboy was dismantled and replaced by a low passage. The Madrasah appeared as if it was divided into two parts, like a Khurjun (saddlebag).

We can only guess about the modest architectural merits of the madrasah Khodjamberdiboy, because the only thing that remained of it and was integrated into the new madrasah is a mosque located in the southern part and interconnected rooms. In size and design, the mosque is close to the hujra, only the square floor plan, the mihrab niche and the dome covering filled with honeycomb in the corners distinguish it from the ordinary madrasah rooms. To create a passage to the portal of the Allakuli Khan madrasah, the old domes of the hujras of the Khodjamberdiboy madrasah were dismantled, the low walls were filled with earth and the small courtyards were laid out along the sides of a newly formed path – a ramp. The Madrasah was divided into two parts like Kurjun sacks (the name was later given to the reconstructed Madrasah). The old portal was dismantled and the new entrance was designed as a modest single-domed Darvazakhana, combining entrances to courtyards and a ramp to the portal of the Allakuli-khan Madrasah.

From the outside, the madrasah is built in such a way that the roof of its low hujras continues to cover the floor of the Allakuli-khan madrasah, and the entire Khurjun madrasah looks like a kind of platform (sufa) in front of the main façade of the majestic Allakuli-khan madrasah.

The internal layout of the Khurjun Madrasah is haphazard, the wall thickness varies from 0.5 to 3 metres, the entrances to the hujras from the northern and southern courtyards do not have arched niches and are not united in any particular rhythm, the size and proportions of the hujras are arbitrary. All this is explained by the complicated conditions of the reconstruction of the madrasahs.