Jabrin Castle

Jabrin was built in 1670 by Imam Bil'arab bin Sultan as a residence and a centre of learning rather than a frontier fort, and the difference shows: three storeys of rooms around courtyards, with a school, a library, guest quarters and reception halls, and ceilings of painted wood carrying floral and geometric designs and Quranic inscriptions in colours that have survived unusually well. The Sun and Moon room is the best known of them. Defensive elements are present, with towers, a well and murder holes over the entrance, but they are secondary. The imam's tomb is inside the building. It stands among date groves on the plain with the Hajar mountains behind, and it is generally considered the finest interior of any Omani fort.

What you actually see

• The painted ceilings - the decorated woodwork in the upper rooms.
• The Sun and Moon room - the reception hall with its painted panels.
• The imam's tomb - the burial chamber inside the castle.
• The date groves - the plantations around the walls.

When to go

October to April; interior temperatures in summer are severe. Mornings are quieter and cooler. The castle keeps daytime hours and closes on Fridays until the afternoon in some seasons.

Honest expectations

Restoration in the 1980s was extensive and some surfaces are renewed rather than original. Interpretation is limited to panels in Arabic and English. Stairs between floors are steep and narrow. It combines with Bahla, which is close.

Nearby

Bahla fort lies northeast; Nizwa is further east.