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CENTERS OF ENLIGHTENMENT DURING THE KHIVA KHANATE
Ismailov Tokhirjon Khushnudbek ugli
Teacher at Ma’mun University
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15481003
During the reign of the Khiva Khanate, there were many madrasahs in
Khiva, one of the largest and most famous of which was the madrasah built by
the Khiva Khan Muhammad Rahimkhan. The founder of the madrasah,
Muhammad Rahimkhan II, was an enlightened ruler and wrote poems under the
pseudonym "Feruz". The khan became famous as an enlightened ruler who
patronized science and poets. During the heyday of the khanate, Muhammad
Rahimkhan carried out a lot of work on the improvement of cities, various
political and economic reforms, but the most important were reforms in the field
of education. All this led to the opening of several new schools in Khiva with new
teaching methods - not only traditional religious subjects were taught, but also
secular ones: mathematics, literature, astronomy, geography. Kamil Khorezmi
and other poets wrote several poetic dedications to the date of the construction
of the madrasa and palace of this ruler.
This madrasa, opposite the Old Arch Gate, was built in 1871-1876 by decree
of Sayid Muhammad Rahimkhan II. The madrasa is distinguished from other
madrasas by its spaciousness and serfdom.
The madrasa has a summer and winter mosque, a classroom, a library and
rooms, and its courtyard is surrounded by 76 one-story rooms and is designed
for 152 students.
The roofs of the rooms are bordered by a barrier wall from the outside and
adjoin the two-story main facade. On both sides of the dry roof there is a gallery
with five arches. The rooms around the gate have nine domes, and the internal
plan of the building differs from the structure of other madrasas. Ornamental
decorations made of glazed bricks on the walls repeat the usual forms. The
structure of the courtyard makes a special impression. The rows of one-story
cells of the courtyard, together with high decorative roofs, external walls and
beautiful minarets-bouquets at the corners, create a magnificent view. Later, a
courtyard with a row of one-story trading stalls was built in front of the
madrasa. The general structure and interior design of the Muhammad
Rahimkhan madrasa are somewhat different from the architecture of traditional
Khiva madrasas. The khan allocated 2941 tanobs (2.5 tanobs - 1 hectare) of land
for the madrasa's endowment (source of income that ensures the madrasa's
activities). At the opening ceremony of the madrasa, decorated with beautiful
tiles, fuzalos and shuaros of the time recited histories and odes and received
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gifts from the khan. In addition to the expenses that the Khan gave to his
relatives, relatives, and craftsmen and artisans who worked on the construction,
118 gold coins were scattered at this wedding.
In Khiva, the capital of the Khorezmshahs, more than twenty madrasas have
survived, and many more have been rebuilt. This madrasa was included in the
UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990 as part of the Ichan Qala, and currently the
Muhammad Rahimkhan Madrasa is a tourist service and exhibition facility.
In the early years of our independence, namely in 1994, the madrasah was
renovated, and in September of this year, in honor of the 150th anniversary of
the wedding of Muhammad Rahimkhan II "Feruz", the "Museum of Khorezm
Literature and History" was opened in the corridors leading to the courtyard of
the madrasah, the study room and the winter mosque, revealing the history and
culture of the Khiva Khanate.
As soon as you enter the museum, you will see the history, culture and art
of the Khiva Khanate, which was founded in the early 16th century, and the
peoples living in the territory of the neighboring Iranian and Bukhara Khanates.
Also, you can see the formation of a centralized state in Khorezm in the late 16th
and early 17th centuries, as well as the influence of its domestic and foreign
policies on the peoples of Central Asia.
In the section, you can learn about the "Eastern March" of Tsarist Russia in
the second half of the 19th century, in order to satisfy its industrial raw
materials needs, and the capture of Central Asian countries, including the Khiva
Khanate in 1873, and the removal of rare works of art, the wealth of the state
and the people, and the "First lithography in Central Asia" organized and
popularized by Muhammad Rakhimkhan II, one of the first in Central Asia to
replace them, the legacy of Khudoybergan Devonov, the swallow of Uzbek
photography and cinema, the works of the sensitive poet and musician Kamil
Khorezmi, who first established musical notation in Central Asia, and the lives of
such great thinkers, poets and people revered by the people as Pahlavan
Mahmud, Abulgozi Bakhodirkhan, Muhammad Rakhimkhan Feruz, Munis and
Ogahiy.
Today, this museum houses many rare items, including the state symbols of
the Khiva Khanate - the flag, coins, and original photographs of the last ruling
khans, trade goods brought from abroad, Chinese and Russian porcelain,
products of local craftsmen, weapons, and clothing.
