Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Today, Khorezm still has 400 historical monuments, among which 124,
have national significance and are protected by the state, 240 have regional
signifance and the remaining 136 are protected by the municipality and lo-
cal government. Furthermore, Khorezm has an attractive natural heritage
with Amu Darya and a lot of lakes. It is also very convenient for ecol-
ogy and adventure tourism, as it presents both desert and forest features.
Khorezm is also an important handcrafts and applied arts center since the
very ancient times, and the best examples are exhibited in local museums
(Babadjanov, 1999).
Coming to Khiva, there are two narratives related to the son Sam of
prophet Noah about Khiva's first settlement. In one of them, Sam landed
his boat on a hill where Amu Darya waters could not reach. Then, in his
dream, he saw that there were thousands of candles lit around this hill.
Telling his dream to his father, he was advised to setup a castle with high
walls, which is referred to as Ichan Kala (Fig. 2) today, and they settled
there. The other narrative reports that Sam dug a well on the hill he saw
in his dream and named this place “Hiyvak” which meant “well” in old
Khorezmian language. This legendary well is still identified with the well
situated in the north-west direction of Ichan Kala (Galima and Corayeff,
2001).
FIGURE 2
Khiva Ichan Kala (commons.wikimedia.org, Photo by Patrickringgenberg /
CC BY-SA 3.0).
Retrieved November 15, 2013 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khiva_
Itchan_Kala.JPG
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