Kalta Minor (Unfinished Minaret)

The squat, fully-tiled minaret intended to rise 70 metres but abandoned at 26 — Khiva's most photographed silhouette.

The Kalta Minor (‘Short Minaret’) is one of the most curious monuments of the Silk Road — a fully tile-clad turquoise minaret begun in 1851 by Mohammed Amin Khan with the intent of dwarfing the minarets of Bukhara at 70 metres tall. Construction stopped at 26 metres in 1855 when the Khan died in a battle near Sarakhs against the Turkmen. According to local tradition the architect would have been executed afterwards to prevent him from building another minaret of similar height for a rival ruler — and he chose to stop building rather than risk that fate. Today the unfinished stub remains, almost unnaturally wide and entirely covered in glazed turquoise, blue and white tiles in geometric and floral patterns — an unmistakable silhouette that dominates the Khiva skyline. The minaret stands 14 metres in diameter at the base and tapers gently; had it been completed, the proportions would have been off compared to other Central Asian minarets.