Monuments to visit Nizwa And The Western Hajar

Masterfully renovated, the citadel of Nizwa is one of the most impressive and interesting in the country. The foundations of the present building date from the mid-17th century, when the fort was built at the instigation of Imam Sultan bin Saif Al Ya'rubi. Its construction lasted about 12 years, from 1649 to 1661, and the building subsequently underwent regular renovations and alterations over the centuries. Protected by a rampart, the entire structure comprises both a castle and a fortified tower, arranged side by side around a wide courtyard. The former served as a residence and a place for administrative services. The second was purely defensive. It is likely that the castle was built long before the tower. Strategically located in the heart of the city, the citadel allowed the surveillance of the inland trade routes, as well as the oasis and springs of the nearby mountains.

It served as a residence for lawyers, as well as for students from all over the sultanate studying Islam in Nizwa. In addition to its inner courtyard, it had a multitude of outbuildings which we visit today and which have preserved their furniture and ancient objects: prisoners' and students' rooms, prayer and discussion rooms, but also library, Koranic school, rooms for storing dates, etc., all renovated and well-documented spaces where one can learn more about life in the heart of the Omani forts.

As a complement to the visit, the former prison now houses an interesting collection of objects from the past, commented and illustrated by numerous didactic texts. There, in the labyrinth formed by the old cells, traditional costumes and jewellery, coffee pots and household utensils, old keys and locks, pots and baskets, various weapons, etc. are on display. One room is devoted to the aflaj system, another to the dyeing of indigo, and yet another to the history of the Sultanate since the formation of the Arabian Peninsula and in the light of world development (comparative frieze). It's well done and you come out richer than you entered, especially since the scenography is pleasant and the screens add liveliness to the whole by broadcasting short documentary films on the different themes presented. After this amount of information, you might be tempted to take a tea or coffee break in the coffee shop in the courtyard; unless you are going to storm the rooftops of the fortress, to take a picture of the dome and minaret of the superb adjacent mosque: one of the most prized views of the local painters and a choice photo, in an ochre-brown monochrome against a backdrop of mountains. From the citadel tower, a superb panorama embraces to the north the Jebel Akhdar, to the south the mud houses of the old city, to the east the souk and the mosque, to the west the oasis of Nizwa fed by the falaj Daris, one of the longest in the country. On the way down, other superb photo opportunities are offered to us. Since 2019, the courtyard of the citadel hosts a living museum. Under the arcades or in the shade of large tents, Omanis in traditional costumes reproduce the trades of yesteryear. The seamstress sector is particularly attractive, as it is a rare opportunity to take pictures of women in their colourful clothes.

Built in 1670 as a secondary residence for Imam Bil'arab bin Sultan, Jabrin Castle is one of the jewels in the sultanate's crown, renowned for its painted ceilings, walls decorated with arabesque astrological motifs, stucco and wooden moucharabiehs and magnificently carved doors: a fine example of Omani architecture. In its heyday, more than 300 people used to come and go between the crenellated walls of its enclosure, members of the imam's family and small staff. The complex was masterfully restored between 1979 and 1983, and the surrounding residents relocated a short distance away to make way for a parking lot. To discover this fortified residential palace, there's nothing like the audio guides provided at the entrance to help you find your way around the maze of staircases, corridors and adjoining rooms.

After the main door and a first courtyard, go through a second wooden door carved in one piece and valiantly guarded by two cannons. Immediately to the left, a small staircase leads to the guard room. Immediately after, a narrow passage leads to the tomb of Imam Bil'arab bin Sultan. Walk up to the tomb and retrace your steps. You then enter the castle's inner courtyard, extended by a hall. The tour begins here, at the far left. If you look up and wide-eyed, you can make out the slits on either side of the ceiling: these were used to monitor comings and goings at the entrance to the building. If an undesirable person tried to pass through the hall, boiling oil or hot date honey was poured on them as a sign of "unwelcome". Next opens the room where the provisions were kept. Admire the chests as well as the palm-leaf baskets and jars used to store wheat, spices, dried fish...

A staircase at the end of the hall, on the left, leads to the second floor and several reception rooms decorated with cushions on the floor and beautifully embellished carpets. The library with its carved wooden Koran holders is on this level. Take time to observe the engraved or painted ceilings for which Jabrin is renowned, and which have been brilliantly restored: arabesques, ornamental motifs, verses from the Koran, poems. A few steps lead up to the women's bathroom, while others lead down to the imam's tomb.

To reach the second floor, take the main staircase, the only one with a magnificently engraved ribbed ceiling. But beware! Its fourth step is rigged and can be removed. A number of nasty invaders left their evil intentions and their freedom behind. The importance of this trap is clear from the fact that the steps led directly into the apartments of the Sultan's family. You'll discover the guest rooms, adjoined by the small Hall of Secrets, or najwa, where confidential matters were whispered. Here again, contemplate the colorful beamed ceilings. The staircase leading to the third floor overlooks the rooftops, all nooks and crannies, with a panoramic view of the beautiful adjacent palm grove. On one side is the prayer room, on the other the reading room where the fundamentals of Islam were taught.

A door at the far end of this room leads back down to the other side of the castle. A few steps further down, head left, where a staircase leads to the second floor of the right wing. This part of the building is built around a superb patio, overlooking the kitchens. The first room on the left is the conference room, whose distinctive feature was a double back at each corner. Spies with keen ears could be posted here to listen in on whispered conversations! The second room is the dining room, and the third is the courtroom, with a door barely 40 cm high through which prisoners were let out... Another curiosity is the horse room, which was devoted to the master's personal pet. A peculiarity that speaks volumes about the adoration of the Omani (and Arab male populations in general) for equines. On the first floor is the kitchen, and at the far end is a special room where date honey was made. The fruit was stacked over two meters high in large woven palm sacks, then pressed. The resulting juice flowed into a gutter at the end of which it was collected.

For those interested in the restoration of painted ceilings, see the article in Icomos Information I-1988 at www.icomos.org. The author and director of the work, Jean Claude Bourret, describes the stages of this complex and fascinating rehabilitation. We learn that "the painters who decorated Jabrin's original ceilings had a wide range of motifs at their disposal: calligraphic, floral, geometric, interlacing, arabesques, rosettes, stars, polygons, spirals, interlaced curved lines, frames, etc." and that "three dominant colors equally distributed over the ornamental surface were used". For the renovation, "pigments were used from Roussillon, Gargace and Rustrel (in the Vaucluse region), where the pigment quarries whose hues were closest to the paintings on the Jabrin ceilings are located. Some pigments, however, were found on site, at the foot of Djebel Akhdar".

Built on the site of the old traditional market, the "new" Nizwa souk, all in ochre and protected by ramparts, covers an area of 7,600 m². Its traditional architecture and the fact that it's frequented by locals and tourists alike make it a very pleasant place to stroll around, especially in the early morning and late afternoon, when it's at its liveliest. The layout of the neighborhoods is primarily functional. In the direction of the fort, around a lovely little central square that you can recognize by the large number of potteries hanging or lying on the ground, is the craftsmen's area, made up of several stores under arcades. Here you'll find mainly pots and jars, but also ancient weapons, antiques, silver objects and jewelry, palm-leaf baskets and woven rugs... A little further away, in another small square right in line with the entrance to the fort, a door leads to a large covered rectangular hall, crossed by two pedestrian walkways (East Souk), where stalls run by old Omanis line up. These are closing one after the other for lack of customers or people to take them over, and the place is quiet until further notice. But you'll want to visit it for its deceptively old-fashioned but truly authentic atmosphere, and the deep peace that emanates from these chiaroscuro spaces where the sun's rays don't penetrate to the ornate beamed ceilings. Another section, as if untouched, retains an old-fashioned charm: it's like a mini souk within a souk, with ancient, unrenovated arcades, narrow stalls and a whole bric-a-brac of very local products offered by merchants from another age.

Moving away from the fort, you pass through three covered markets for foodstuffs: one for meat, another for fish, the third for fruit and vegetables - all well laid out and meeting generally good hygiene standards, as is the case everywhere in the sultanate, where the cleanliness of shopping areas obeys drastic standards. Further on, at the far end of the shopping area, a final shed houses the date market, where canvas or jute sacks are piled up, as in days gone by. The price of the fruit is negotiated very closely, depending on the variety and quality of the harvest. You can buy directly from the customer or from a large store (7 days a week, 6am-12pm and 4pm-8pm) offering no fewer than 12 varieties of dates at around OMR 1 to 3 per kilo (with the possibility of sampling), plus a few other products (honey, date syrup, spices...). Just opposite is one of the best-known and busiest halls in the whole of Nizwa: that of the Al-Saifi family's famous Halwa Factory, crowded not only by locals, but also by visiting locals. Some would even travel from far and wide to acquire what is considered the best Halwa in the country, if not the entire Gulf!

We then leave the area enclosed by the ramparts and enter an open-air square, where a picturesque livestock market is held every Friday morning. Just as local and traditional, but located on the opposite side of a small square facing the entrance to the fort, don't miss the antique weapons market, also held on Friday mornings.

Bahla Fort, which has undergone 24 years of renovation, is the country's most imposing fort. Its south, east and north-west facades measure 112.5 m, 114 m and 135 m respectively. Overlooking the village, the building is divided into several sections. The oldest and most monumental section, Al Qasaba, in the south-east corner, is a separate entity with its own entrance. It has 3 towers, the oldest gate in the citadel and 5 floors of multiple rooms, including a string of 3 majilis with very high, absolutely majestic ceilings. The rest of the space is taken up by a vast courtyard that serves several groups of buildings with their wells, prayer halls, towers, defensive walls, countless rooms and spaces formerly reserved for public service: Bait al-Jabal built in the ^18th century, Bait al-Hadeeth added in the ^mid-19th century and Bait al-Qaed.

Although it has benefited from a masterly renovation, the fort, a veritable Chambord of the Middle East, is now completely empty (no furniture, no carpets, no objects...) and has hardly any explanatory panels. However, this is not the end of the story, for the whole place is impressively gigantic, and it's a dizzying pleasure to get caught up in the maze of half-level platforms, staircases, courtyards, rooms of all sizes, shafts, niches, alcoves, and the entire arsenal of a traditional defensive building - parapet walk, watchtowers, ramparts, loopholes... not forgetting the multiple roofs as many perspectives on this major construction and the oasis that surrounds it.

The citadel owes its prosperity to the Banu Nabhan tribe, who dominated the central region of Oman and made Bahla their capital from the ^12th to the end of the ^15th century. From then on, they established relations with the other tribes of the interior. Bahla was notably the center of Ibadism (the state religion) on which the ancient Omani imamates were founded, and whose influence can be found throughout Arabia, Africa and beyond. Proudly standing in the heart of its oasis, surrounded by plantations irrigated by the falaj system, the building is an outstanding example of an oasis fortified place from the medieval Islamic period, and illustrates the skill of the early inhabitants in using water for agricultural and domestic purposes. With its rounded towers, crenellated parapets and imposing perimeter(over) wall, the citadel attests to the status and influence of the ruling elite who occupied it. The remains of mud-brick family housing estates with their traditional vernacular houses(harat) and associated mosques, audience halls(sabla), baths and the homes of the fort's guards(askari), evoke a pattern of human settlement linked to the location of the falaj.

The importance of the settlement is also highlighted, at close proximity, by the ancient Friday mosque and its richly decorated mihrab, and by the remains of the old half-covered market(souq), comprising a series of single-storey stalls opening onto narrow aisles, all enclosed behind an outer rampart. The souq's location facilitated surveillance from the fort on its rocky escarpment. The remains of carved and artistically incised wooden doors, shelves and window frames bear witness to a rich and prosperous craft tradition.

Overlooking the modern city on its southern spur, this fortified village was abandoned half a century ago when the falaj dried up. As evening falls, in the wake of a talkative guard who knows three words of English but had the presence of mind to record historical information in his old Nokia, we wander through the narrow streets and old houses of an 11th century caravanserai offered to termites, but in the process of being rescued. We climb up there to enjoy a 360° view of the region. Ghostly escape into the past.

This large fortified house(Bayt) was built in the ^17th century by Imam Sultan bin Saif bin Malik Al Ya'rubi in order to protect the access to Jebel Akhdar and the falaj Al Khatmeen, which is essential for the irrigation of the vast oasis of Birkat Al-Mawz and which runs through the castle. With its arches, bas-reliefs and painted ceilings, the building is not without a certain elegance. It has all the attributes of a defensive building with its central courtyard, its towers at opposite angles and its crenellated ramparts. Renovated, it houses an interesting small museum of arms.

The fortress of Al-Fiyqin stands out from other Omani bastions by its verticality and its appearance of a colossal square tower. Established in a fertile plain, its impressive height exceeds the ancient houses and vegetation of the oasis, offering from its top and its various loopholes and openings, a wide perspective on the surroundings - which used to allow spotting the enemy and favors today beautiful panoramic photos! Built 400 years ago and well renovated, the defensive building is on four levels.