Behold one of the most unusual and unique tile inscriptions that I have yet seen. This curious inscription adorns the street facing side of a hospital constructed during the early 20th century in Khiva (historically known as Khwarazm). The inscription is very unusual for being written in both Uzbek (above) and Russian (below)- two languages which were historically not native or used for official or public architecture in Central Asia Persian and Arabic were the historic languages used in religious and civic architecture in Asia.

The inscription mentions the hospital is named after Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich (crown prince) of Russia. The absence of Persian and Arabic in a hospital built under Russian Tsarist patronage is in line with Russian preference for Turkic peoples at the time (who they were more familiar in dealing with), as just a decade later the Soviets would restructure the entire power structure of Central Asia, displacing the majority Persian speaking ruling and noble class of most cities, including Samarqand & Bukhara, and replacing them with Turkic peoples from the rural areas. In the case of Samarqand and Bukhara this meant expelling large numbers of their population to the newly formed autonomous Tajik ASSR and allocating Samarqand and Bukhara to the newly formed Uzbek SSR. Such controversial border delimitations from that era continue to be the source of conflict to this day.

A friend on Facebook (Dadaxon Bukhoriy) was kind enough to share in his comment more info on the inscription and the content of the inscription:

“1913 йилда Хивада илк бор замонавий шифохона ишга туширилади.Унинг пештоқига кўк кошин плиткаларда шундай сўзлар битилган: “подшоҳи аъзам императури ҳазратларининг валийаҳдлари шаҳзода, улуғ князь Алексей Николаевич жаноби олийнинг номларига Саййид Исфандиёрхоннинг тарафларидин Тоза Хивақда бино этилган хастахона. 1331 ҳижрий” ~Dadaxon Bukhoriy

Using Google Translator the text of his comment is as follows:

In 1913, a modern hospital was opened for the first time in Khiva. The following words were written on its facade in blue tiles: “Hospital built in Toza Khivak by the supporters of Sayyid Isfandiyarkhan in the name of His Royal Highness, Prince Alexei Nikolaevich, the crown prince of the great empire.” 1331 Hijri

(This post was originally published on 8/17/2023)