Allakuli Khan Caravanserai and Tim

History

Under Allakuli Khan (r. 1825–1842) Khiva’s trade with Russia, Bukhara and Persia grew. A section of the eastern wall by the Polvon Gate was taken down and replaced by a caravanserai, a madrasa and a tim. The sources date the caravanserai to 1832–1833 and the tim to the later 1830s.

The two-storey caravanserai is arranged around a broad courtyard, with goods stored below and merchants lodging above. Because it sits on the line of the inner wall, caravans could unload without entering the lanes of Itchan Kala.

The tim

The tim, linking the caravanserai with the street by the Polvon Gate, is a trading passage under a chain of domes, lined with booths and lit through openings overhead. Covered bazaars like this sheltered buyers and sellers from summer heat and winter wind, and a market official kept watch over weights, measures and prices.

Today it is a market again, selling skullcaps, robes, ceramics, carved wood and souvenirs, while the caravanserai courtyard is one of the quietest corners of Itchan Kala.