This Is The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. The Most Extravagant Mosque In Oman.
This Is The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. The Most Extravagant Mosque In Oman.
This is the most lavish mosque in Oman, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It's an extravagant display of wealth, ambition and architecture, built in Muscat by Oman's ruler Sultan Qaboos. I took a look inside...
"Cover up please", the guards at the entrance commanded my Mother as we tried walking through the main gate of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Oman's capital, Muscat.
My Mother's wrists and ankles were just slightly uncovered, despite her best efforts to cover up before we arrived, even donning a shawl to cover her head. This wasn't good enough though, and we would need to find her more suitable attire if we wanted to see more than just the walls from a distance.
My Father and I were well dressed for this occasion in long trousers and long shirts, but the stifling Omani heat was beginning to make jealous of the local dress, the Dish Dash, a long flowing dress like gown that looked perfect for the desert heat.
If we wanted to visit the mosque though, we would have to find my Mother much more suitable clothing. This we discovered in the mosque's gift shop, where she was able to purchase a long, green and flowery Omani style dress to cover her ankles and wrists for only a few Omani Rials.
Now we were allowed into the courtyard of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
I was travelling with my parents in Oman. We were here on a nostalgic trip. We lived here over twenty years ago and I went to school in the heat of Muscat. One of my lasting memories of these days long ago was watching the construction of this grand, lavish mosque from the dirt upwards.
The mosque is named for the country's leader, and long time ruler Sultan Qaboos. It was he who ordered this Grand Mosque to be built, in an ambitious feat of engineering and planning to construct what would be Oman's largest and most expensive mosque.
Construction began in 1994, and it took over six years to be completed. In 2001, the Sultan finally opened its doors.
I was here in 1997, visiting the construction site with my local school, and I simply remember a mass of concrete and dust.
I left Oman not long after, returning home to England, and never saw the finished mosque until I returned twenty years later, in 2017.
Now I could see what had been built.
The mosque was opulent, lavish and shimmering in the sun. Its layout with beautifully symmetrical, and an army of workers toiled in the sun to keep things clinically clean, no easy task with raging desert winds driving in dust.
The Women's Prayer Hall
The mosque is divided into different sections. After exploring the green, lush gardens and water features surrounding the complex we walked first to the Women's Prayer Hall.
Like all mosques, there are two separate areas for men and women to pray.
The women's hall was decorated with simple but detailed pillars and wooden ceilings. A small chandelier hung from the roof, casting light across the room.
There was space here for 750 women to pray at any one time.
The Courtyards
The mosque has a total capacity of 20,000 worshippers. Many of these can congregate in the surrounding courtyards and passageways of the mosque, rather than just in the halls.
The Men's Prayer Hall
The men's prayer hall is marked by a huge glittering dome in the centre of the complex. This space is much bigger than the women's prayer hall, and could fit 6,500 worshippers inside.
Inside, things were certainly lavish.
A huge chandelier swings from the roof arches and a giant rug- a Persian rug which took two years to weave- lines the floor.
It's a demonstration of wealth, ambition and power from the Sultan, and a focal point for the entire mosque complex.
The Minarets Of The Mosque
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is the site of four minarets, all arranged symmetrically within the complex. When I visited years ago these towers were just being raised into the skies, now they stand 45 metres tall.
The Most Extravagant Mosque In Oman
When we left, all three of us were astonished by the show of wealth we had just seen. It's an extravagant building, an achievement of design and architecture and planning and logistics. It is the most extravagant mosque in Oman, and something which will form a part of the Sultan's enduring legacy.
This article originally appeared in an edited format on my website Travel Tramp
I don't think I've ever seen many pictures of Oman !!,
It's a beautiful country to visit
Amazing. I can only imagine how expensive it must have cost. Very cool that you were able to back to see it finished and see how things have changed - even if the heat was terrible, ugh! Makes one appreciate a rainy day in London :) Thanks for sharing!
It was great seeing the finished mosque, and yes sometimes the weather in England is actually something to be jealous of, especially when it reaches 40 degrees in Muscat!