Khiva - Murad Tura minaret

The Murad-Tura minaret is located in the city of Khiva, the centre of the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan. The minaret was built in 1888, its height is 9 metres and the floor diameter is 3.2 metres.  The minaret and the mosque nearby were named in honour of Murad-Tura, the brother of Khan Muhammad Rahimkhan II.

Next to the Murad-Tura Minaret is the Muhammad Rahimkhan II Medrese and the Kunya Ark architectural complex. The Murad-Tura minaret is one of the miniature minarets of Khiva. The Murad-Tura minaret is built of baked bricks and the upper part is decorated with an ornamental band covered with majolica tiles.

The tiles shine in the sunlight and complete the image of the minaret. The Murad Tura Mosque has not been preserved to this day, and the minaret is nowadays located between the apartment blocks.

The minarets were originally built as lookout towers and landmarks for travellers. After the arrival of Islam in Central Asia, the minarets were used for the calls to prayer. Minarets then appeared on every town around the Jome mosques. The number of large and small minarets in Khiva was originally about a hundred, nowadays their number does not exceed 20.

Khiva rightly bears the title of a city museum, because every visitor will surely find here interesting and historical monuments of the culture of the historical Muslim population and ancient architectural ensembles built here in different periods of the city’s formation.

In the old town, also called the city centre (Ichan-Kala), the number of attractions is simply phenomenal – you can’t walk more than two steps without coming across a new one. They all have amazing histories and exquisite and luxurious exteriors. This is not to say that the outer city (Dishan-Kala) is uninteresting – there are also many places to visit. But while the outer city is not well preserved, the inner city presents itself almost in its original form.