Ata Darvaza

These gates are located in the western part of Ichan-Kala, they are considered the main gate to enter the city. There were 13 shopping malls in the inner part of the gate, and a chorsu covered bazaar. And on the right side of the gate was the Muhammad Aminhana madrasah (1855), on the left side the Khan's Ark Palace (Kunya Ark).

The customs office and sarrafhana (money exchange facilities) were located inside the gate. The size of the structure and its dimensions, structures in accordance with the architectural possibilities were indicated in very acceptable standards. In order for the structure to be very stable, the shapes of the gate arches were arranged based on the gravity of the load falling on them.

Wooden beams were inserted into a row of stacked bricks, and the load falling on the domes was distributed over several arches. In this method, for the construction of small domes, bricks are laid in the form of “davra” and “balkhi". At the same time, the interior of the building is plastered. The gate is 10 meters long and 4 meters wide. Four main rooms were built in the gate, which were destroyed in the 20s of the XX century and in 1975 were restored by Khiva restoration masters in their original form. The gates are decorated with very elegant carved floral patterns “islimi” and geometric ornaments. The flaps of both gates in the central part are decorated with equilateral quadrangles (85 x 85 cm) of the same proportions and sizes, in which circles with the image of octagonal stars are inscribed. Surah “Ikhlas” from the Koran is written in Arabic inside the circle in the right wing, and “Kalimai Shahadat” in the left wing with the words “La ilaha illallohu Muhammadur Rasululloh" – that is, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” The doors of these gates were actually installed in the entrance part of the country palace-khawli Mohammed Aminhana, built in 1850-1851 in the village of Angarik.

Two photographic documents confirming this fact, that is, that they were previously installed in the Khawli Mohammed Aminhana Palace, are kept in the funds of the Ichan-kala Khiva Museum-Reserve. The photographic documents by the first Uzbek cinematographer and Khorezm photographer Khudaibergen Divanov show a view of the gates installed before the destruction of the khawli palace in the village of Angarik. Divanov specially photographed these gates from a close distance, at the bottom of the photo he left his inscription “Khawli Mohammed Aminhana in the Hangar.” As mentioned above, these gates are currently the main entrance gates of the city.