Khiva - Kalta Minor

The Kalta Minor Minaret in Khiva – a monument to an interrupted vision

In the heart of the walled city centre of Khiva, Ichan Qal’a, stands one of the most striking and symbolic buildings in Central Asia: the Kalta Minor Minaret. This unfinished minaret, which is nevertheless one of Khiva’s best-known landmarks, uniquely combines architectural boldness, political history, personal tragedy and legendary tradition to create a fascinating synthesis of the arts of 19th century Islamic building culture.

Monumental design with imperial aspirations
The Kalta Minor – literally translated as ‘short minaret’ – was commissioned in 1853 during the reign of Muhammad Aminkhan (r. 1851-1855). The Khan, an ambitious ruler with strategic foresight and a keen sense for prestigious architecture, had the construction work started in the immediate vicinity of his medrese of the same name. A minaret with a height of over 100 metres was planned – an unprecedented project at the time. If the building had been completed, it would not only have towered over all existing minarets in the Islamic world, but would also have become the tallest Islamic tower in history. By comparison, the world-famous Qutb Minar in Delhi, the tallest surviving minaret in the world, ‘only’ reaches 72.5 metres.

Architectural characteristic and aesthetic appeal
The Kalta Minor was only completed to a height of 29 metres, but has an unusually large diameter of 14.5 metres at its base. This disproportionate shape – an almost cylindrical, massive silhouette – gives the minaret a monumental presence, which is further emphasised by the intense, colourful majolica cladding. The continuous cladding with green-blue, turquoise and white ceramic tiles is particularly characteristic, allowing the minaret to shine in vivid splendour in the sunlight. In contrast to the otherwise more vertically structured minarets of Central Asia, the Kalta Minor appears like an architectural monolith that draws its effect from the tension between incompleteness and oversized dimensions.

Access to the top of the minaret is via a wooden spiral staircase that starts from a mezzanine floor of the neighbouring madrasa. This staircase has been restored several times over the centuries, most recently as part of extensive restoration work to mark the 2500th anniversary of the city of Khiva in 1997.

Majolica inscriptions as poetic testimony
In the course of the aforementioned restoration, the renowned majolica master Rustam Tahirov reconstructed the Persian-language inscriptions in the upper section of the minaret, which had been lost over time. These praise the splendour of the building in flowery language and symbolically elevate it to the centre of world architecture:

“A tall minaret has been erected that brings joy to the human soul. Heaven has never seen anything like it. Its splendour has reached the emirs of the earth. Its sides are free of flaws and shortcomings […] It has become a kind of pillar of heaven that the mind cannot comprehend.”

The poet Muhammad Reza Agachi gave the minaret the poetic name ‘The Endless Pillar of Heaven’, built in the year 1271 of the Hijrah (equivalent to 1855).

An abrupt end: death of the founder and cancellation of construction work
Construction work on the Kalta Minor was abruptly interrupted when Muhammad Aminkhan died in 1855 during a campaign against Turkmen tribes in northern Iran. As Mullah Alim Makhdum Hoji reports in his work ‘History of Turkestan’, the Khan fell on the second Monday of the month of Jumadul Okhir in the battle of Qonlitepa. His death was at the hands of Turkmen fighters under Niyazkhan ibn Urazkhan Serakhsi. The Khan’s body was beheaded and his head, crown and insignia were handed over to the Persian Shah.

Although Muhammad Aminkhan was considered a loyal vassal, the Shah disapproved of this act and had the slain ruler honoured posthumously. In Tehran, a mausoleum was erected near the main gate, where the khan’s head was buried with military honours – accompanied by Koran prayers and alms donations.

The khan’s death signalled the abrupt end of an ambitious building project. Without his charismatic patron, the construction was not continued, but the unfinished minaret was preserved as a memorial to a failed architectural dream.

The khan as a ruler: reformer, warrior, friend of justice
Muhammad Aminkhan was not only an ambitious builder, but also a highly respected political figure. Contemporary sources, including the Persian envoy Mirza Rizakulihan Sherozi Lalabash, describe him as a God-fearing, just and popular ruler. His reign was characterised by internal order and economic stability: Prices were low, harvests plentiful and the infrastructure developed. Every farmer received a piece of land (tanap), horsemen were provided with horses and beasts of burden, and losses were compensated.

The judiciary was well organised: The khan himself adjudicated secular disputes, while religious matters were the responsibility of the head qozi. This functional separation of powers was considered progressive for the time.

His military organisation was characterised by efficiency and discipline despite his numerical inferiority. The loss of 32 officers in the aforementioned battle at Qonlitepa – including high-ranking dignitaries such as Bekchan Divanbegi and Khudayarbiy – was a deep cut in the military leadership of the Khanate.

Myths and legends surrounding the Kalta Minor
There are numerous legends surrounding the Kalta Minor that live on in the oral tradition of Khiva to this day. One of the best known is that Muhammad Aminkhan intended to build a minaret from which one could see as far as Bukhara. When the Emir of Bukhara learnt of this, he offered the architect great riches if he would also build such a minaret for him after completion. The Khan, who wanted to preserve the exclusivity of his project, then planned to have the architect thrown down upon completion. However, the architect learnt of this – and escaped from the unfinished tower using a rope or specially constructed wings.

Such legends are an expression of the mystical aura that surrounds the building. They merge with historical facts to create a narrative that gives the Kalta Minor an almost mythical life of its own.

In the vernacular, the building still bears honorary titles such as Kok Minar (‘Blue Minaret’) or Ulli Minar (‘Great Minaret’) – an expression of the deep cultural anchoring of the monument in the collective memory of the population.

Changing function and significance
The neighbouring Muhammad Aminkhan madrasah, originally a centre of Islamic scholarship, was extensively restored in 1979 and converted into a hotel. This conversion documents the transformation of historical architecture in the modern tourism landscape of Uzbekistan – a process that encompasses both preservation and commercial utilisation.

The Kalta Minor itself stands today as a symbolic fragment of an interrupted architectural vision in the centre of the UNESCO-protected old town of Khiva. It is a reminder of the bold ambitions of a ruler, of cultural change, imperial competition and tragic failure – and is a masterpiece of Central Asian architecture precisely because of its imperfection.