Khiva - Palvan Kori Minaret

The Palvan Kori Minaret is located in the city of Khiva, the centre of the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan. It is located in the eastern part of the historic district of Dishan-Kala (Outer City), near the Sayid Biy complex, which includes a madrasa, a mosque and a minaret.

The structure was completed in the early 20th century, in 1905. The Palvan Kori Minaret is interesting mainly because it is strikingly different from the traditional type of minarets of Khiva, which are much narrower towards the top.

The Palvan-Kori Minaret is a rare type of absolutely direct cylindrical minaret of Khiva. It is difficult to say what caused this architecture. Maybe the new trends, because it was built in the late XIX, early XX century.

It is remarkable that the decoration of the minaret is also unusual. Such modesty in decoration is not characteristic of oriental architecture. All the decoration is the bands of brickwork decorated with green glazed tiles in the form of “arches”.

Characteristic of the majority of Khiva minarets is the considerable narrowing in the upper part of the structure. The uniqueness of Palvan-Kori Minaret is that it is an absolutely straight cylinder for its entire height.

Today it is difficult to confirm what influenced the choice of such an architectural solution. It is probably related to the architect’s desire to bring a novelty to traditional architecture.

The exterior features of a minaret are also unusual. Unlike most minarets in Uzbekistan, which are decorated with majolica tiles, the Palvan-Kori minaret has only figurative brickwork in several places.

The Palvan-Kori minaret is located next to the medrese of the same name. It was built by an architect with a fine sense of proportion and exquisite artistic taste.

The Palvan-Kori minaret is one of the oldest in Khiva. The upper part of the minaret has four large arched openings. Dimensions: Height – 24 m, diameter of the base – 4 m.