Khiva, a former Khanate
Inside the large Juma (Friday) Mosque, a typically archaic mosque with a flat ceiling on columns which has no analogue in Central Asia. It has 218 wooden columns supporting its roof – a concept thought to be derived from ancient Arabian mosques. Six or seven of the columns date the original 10th-century mosque, though the present building dates from the 18th century.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers, Mon Jun 10, 2013