Khiva
General view of Matniyaz Divan-begi madrasah (right) 1871, Kalta Minor (right) 1855, and Ota Darvoza (Father Gate) (left), with the quayside in the right foreground and the Muhammad Rakhim-khan II Madrasah 1871, in the left background, Khiva, Uzbekistan, pictured on July 6, 2010, in the afternoon. Khiva's old city, Ichan Kala, is surrounded by 2.2 kilometres of crenellated and bastioned city walls. The main gate today is the restored western Ota Darvoza (Father Gate). The Kalta Minor or Short Minaret was commissioned by Mohammed Amin Khan in 1852 to stand 70 m. high, but was abandoned when he died in 1855, and remains only 26 m. high. Khiva, ancient and remote, is the most intact Silk Road city. Ichan Kala, its old town, was the first site in Uzbekistan to become a World Heritage Site(1991). Picture by Manuel Cohen
