AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Hidden in the central quarter of Khiva's walled old city, the Sayid Allauddin Mausoleum is the oldest surviving building in Itchan Kala — a modest domed shrine whose 14th-century majolica tilework predates nearly everything else tourists photograph in this UNESCO-listed city.↗↗
Built in 1303 over the tomb of a Sufi sheikh from Bukhara, it marks the formative moment when Khiva was rebuilding itself as a regional center after centuries of destruction. Its extraordinary glazed tiles, made by masters from the Khorezmian capital of Kunya-Urgench, are among the finest ceramic art of the medieval Muslim world — and they are still here, in a room that still feels like a place of prayer.↗↗
Who Was Sayid Allauddin?
Sayid Allauddin was a Sufi religious leader and descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who came to Khiva from Bukhara. A devout and well-educated scholar, he was also a skilled potter and accomplished tile maker. His influence radiated far beyond his own lifetime through a remarkable chain of disciples: among them was Pakhlavan Mahmoud, who became Khiva's patron saint, and Kulyal Emir, who later mentored Bakhauddin Nakshbandi — the founder of the Naqshbandi order, the most influential Sufi lineage in all of Central Asia.
