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Walls &
Gates
As
centuries ago, approx. 10-meter-high clay wall surrounds the inner
city of Ichan Kala. The inner city wall made of adobe (sun-baked)
bricks (40x40x10 cm). Foundation of Ichan Kala rampart is thought to
date from fifth century.
Ichan Kala wall is 8-10 meters high, 6-8 meters wide and 2250 meters
long. The ancient city inside the Ichan Kala is densely packed into
a space of less than a square kilometer.
The wall opens at four gates:
North (Bagcha-Darvaza),
South (Tash-Darvaza),
East (Palvan-Darvaza), and
West (Ata-Darvaza).
Khiva once had an outer rampart, Dishan Kala. Parts of it still
remain, and its Stone Gate (Kosh-Darvaza) is still standing in the
modern part of town, about 500 meters north of the Ichan Kala's
North Gate (Bagcha-Darvaza). Allah Kuli Khan erected walls in 1842
for protection against attacks of Yomud Turkmen. More than 200,000
people took part in the wall's construction. This rampart had 10
gates. Besides Kosh-Darvaza two more gates,
Khazarasp-Darvaza and
Gandimyan – darvaza, are intact.
Clay for walls' construction was mined from the place two kilometers
north of the city. The place is named Ghovuk Kul. There is a large
lake near there. For a long time local clay is of very high quality,
they say, prophet Muhammad built the town of Medina, using clay from
that place. Therefore the lake, which appeared later, is considered
sacred.
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