Allakuli Khan Madrasa

History

Allakuli Khan built the madrasa in 1834–1835 beside his caravanserai, on a stretch of the eastern wall that had been pulled down. Raised on an artificial mound, it stands taller than its neighbours. With the Qutlugmurod Inoq Madrasa opposite it forms a classic Central Asian “kosh” pair, and it is tied into one ensemble with the covered bazaar, the Polvon Gate and the older Khojamberdibiy Madrasa.

Above the entrance was what was then a large library serving students from all of Khiva’s madrasas. The khan endowed the school with extensive lands and assigned income from the neighbouring tim and caravanserai to the library.

Architecture

The madrasa measures about 62 by 47 metres around a 35-by-29-metre courtyard, with 99 two-storey cells recorded in the sources. A mosque and a lecture hall flank the entrance in the usual way. The main portal, the four courtyard portals, arch spandrels and façade bands are faced with majolica, and the portal bears Surah al-Fath in elaborate thuluth script.

The little Khojamberdibiy Madrasa of 1688 stood where the forecourt is now; the new entrance sliced it in two, earning it the nickname “Khurjun” — the saddlebag.