The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

The Grand Mosque was built from December 1994 to 2001 in Indian sandstone, a complex of prayer halls, courtyards, arcades and gardens holding around twenty thousand worshippers. The main prayer hall carries a single Persian carpet, knotted by six hundred weavers over four years and covering more than four thousand square metres, and a chandelier of Swarovski crystal fourteen metres high, both of which were the largest of their kind when installed. The arcades around the courtyard are decorated in a sequence of regional Islamic styles. It is one of the few grand mosques in the Gulf that admits non-Muslim visitors, on weekday mornings only and under a strict dress code.

History

In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that the country should have a grand mosque, a design competition followed in 1993, and construction began at Bausher in December 1994, taking six years and seven months; about 270,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone were imported for it. The mosque was inaugurated on 4 May 2001, and its prayer-hall carpet, with 1.7 million knots, took over 600 workers four years to make (Wikipedia, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque).

What to look for

• The main prayer hall - the single Persian carpet and the crystal chandelier.
• The courtyard arcades - the sequence of regional Islamic decorative styles.
• The minarets - the five towers around the complex.
• The gardens - the planted grounds surrounding the mosque.

When to go

October to April for comfortable weather. Non-Muslim visiting is restricted to weekday mornings, usually around eight to eleven, and closed on Fridays; check current hours before going. Arrive early to avoid tour groups.

What to expect

The dress code is enforced: long sleeves and long trousers or skirt for everyone, and a headscarf covering the hair for women, with no exceptions. Visiting hours are short and the mosque closes to visitors well before midday. Photography rules vary by area. Tour groups fill the prayer hall late in the window.

Nearby

Mutrah and old Muscat lie east; the opera house is close by.

Key facts