List of Mosques in Khiva

Mosques
Dzhuma Mosque
Yar Muhammad-Divan Mosque
Khasan Murad Kushbegi Mosque
Bogbonli Mosque
Ata Murad Matriza Kushbegi Mosque
Aq Mosque
Sheikh Mukhtar Ata Mosque
Said Niyaz Shali-Karbai Mosque and Madrasah (1835-1842)
Atajan Tura Mosque and Madrasah

Mosques

Mosques were major city highlights. There were more than a hundred of them in the Khiva Khanate where prayers were offered five times a day. Thirty of them were big mosques holding Friday services and Kurban hait and Ruza hait holiday services were held as special prayers out of town and at the Dzhuma Mosque in winter.

The Dzhuma Mosque (Friday Mosque) was the city's biggest built, according to the Arab travelers Al Istahriy and Al Makdisiy in the 10th century and restored in 1788. There were 79 mosques all in all, 65 of them mahalli mosques.

There were 31 mahalli mosques at Ichan-qala: bavaris bobo, Miskinbai, payaki, Gasallar, Abdulla rais, Bagbanli, Ismail bechka, Tahir ishan, Shaikh Kabir, Najmiddin Kubra, Maszhidi Kalan (Friday Mosque), Poyanda, Atamurad kushbe-gi, haji Muhammadkhan, Arabkhan, Aq Mosque, Habibkuli, Taji-Haji, Musas Tura, Atajan Tura, Kazi hais, Tovgan turk, Said ata (Yar Muhammad Divan), Hasan Murad kushbegi, Bektemir, Hasan kurd, Galgal Mosque, Pana zargar, Atash gurji and Palvan ata.

The western part of Dishan-qala featured 26 mosques: Chilli avliya, Atajan dcvon, Gapanik, Nurulla Chitkar, Nurullabek, Habibulla ishan, Muhammad (Mamat) mahram, Husain zargar, Narbek, Abul sarraf, Shakalandar, Bobo carvan, Yakub mehtar, Nurullabai, Hasan bagban, Kadam yasavulbashi, Ibrahim ishan, Matkarim sais, Sultanabad, Zhankeldy, Ibadulla ishan, Sayid Muhammadkhan, Nuri Hoja, Allak alakchi, Kulal and Divanbegi.

The eastern section of Dishan-qala had 22 mosques: Kaptarkhan, Bazaar Yuzbashi, Khasankuli, Rahmonberdybai, Masharif lassi, Kumyaska, Saidamat tura, Palvankori, Abdal bobo, Mirza tozhik, Said Niyez sholikor, Turt Shavvaz, Davlat karakuz, Khan Mosque, Tosh Mosque, Gaffarbai, Zargar, Gadailar, Kara alam, Madrakhimkhan, Sayid Mahi Ruyi Zhakhan and Ishankhodjak. All this information comes from the abovementioned map by M. Nigmatullaycv. The names of the mosques were checked with city old-timers.

The mosques are mainly built of baked bricks or clay. Dilapidating with time, they were either given facelifts or razed down to make way for new ones. The mosques were normally built on donations made by the rich and bore their names.

During the late-9th and early-20th century the Khiva mosques, like those in Bukhara, were operating on a fairly democratic basis with only one mosque used by washers of the dead, being off limits to others.

Some of Khiva's mosques still grab the tourists' attention with their unorthodox architecture and decor.