Today, I want to share our last visit to the Grand Mosque in Muscat, Oman. It stands as a symbol of rich Islamic culture, showcasing a contemporary architectural style that beautifully blends Omani, Persian, Central Asian, and Indian Mughal influences.
Hello, friends, world travelers, and community! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying quality time with your loved ones.
Last winter, while traveling from Northern Europe to India, we flew with Oman Air. Given the dark winter nights and challenging weather, the timing of our flights worked well for us. However, we didn’t realize until last week that we had a long layover at Muscat Airport. We arrived early in the morning, around 5 o'clock, and spent about two hours discussing visa and hotel options at the service counter. Once we completed all the necessary procedures, we hired a taxi to take us to our hotel, eager to relax and explore what we missed at our last visit to the city of Muscat.
The road from the airport passes by the Qaboos Grand Mosque, which we didn’t have time to visit on our last trip. After discussing with the taxi driver(he was a good guide as well), we decided to visit the mosque before heading to the hotel since it is open to tourists from 8 AM to 11 AM. The entry is free.
We arrived exactly at opening time, and the crowds were manageable, with only a few foreign groups present. It was a huge parking area.
Very few vehicles, a clean and neat place, together with flowers and trees.
However, I was stopped by security because my short scarf did not meet the requirements for entry. After some discussion about how to gain access to the mosque,
I ended up renting a scarf from a tourist souvenir shop to cover my head and enter the premises.
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The area is soo beautiful stared with a nice, colorful garden, small fountains, lots of green trees, and extremely clean.
According to the information, the total site span is ca 102 acres. and the mosque structure with the surrounding complex is ca.10 acres.
The mosque is made of different kinds of stone, but mainly uses sandstone and polished marble from India, imported around 300,000 tons. The doors, windows, and all decorative interior elements were made of glass and wood, precious stones, and metal like gold.
The total capacity of the mosque is up to 20,000 worshipers. That includes 750 in the women's prayer hall. 6,500 in the men's prayer hall, and the pavilion of the garden carries 8,000.
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The mosque is surrounded by five minarets/towers.
The main tower is around 90 meters tall. The other four are almost half the size of the main tower.
The entrance to the mosque. After entering these arches, we came into the main structure
Before I just turned around from the stairs and clicked this beautiful view of the area.
The beautiful hand-carved wooden door made of precious teak, we can see many like this all around.
The wooden ceiling, hand-carved panels richly decorated with calligraphy and arabesques, reflects traditional Omani ceilings and also serves as acoustic diffusers to improve sound quality.
The main door to the women's prayer hall. An instruction board outlines the rules and regulations for the prayer hall. The space has a 14-carat gold clock and crystal chandeliers, along with simple yet elegant teak wood furnishings. It is attractive, but very simple compared to the men's prayer room.
Walking through the archway is very nice. We can see many different designs with information about which architectural style and classifications of material.
From here, I tried to cover the whole mosque.
Another archway/corridor brings us to the washrooms for women and men.
Some places are made for ritual cleansing before prayers.
The main tower/minaret from inside the mosque. After entering the archway, the men's prayer hall is located.
Entering the Main prayer hall is amazing; it brings us into another world. Everything is just wow. See this tall, hand-carved teak-wood door. Praiseworthy effort.
Here is the world's biggest carpet up until 2018, hand-woven by 600 workers in three years quiet difficult task.1.7 billion knots is unbelievable.
The carpet covered the entire prayer hall, which is 74x74 meters.
The hall is very quiet, clean, and beautifully arranged. The main area is covered with a prayer carpet divided into individual prayer spots. To maintain the sanctity of the space, a blue barrier tape protects the prayer area, preventing visitors from stepping on the carpet.
The 50-meter-high central beautiful dome has a geometric and floral design with Arabic calligraphy that beautifully fuses traditional Omani, Persian, and Islamic artistic styles to represent the heavens.
And the world's largest Swarovski crystal chandelier, which contains over 600,000 crystals and is heavily gilded with 24-karat gold. It weighs around 8 tons. hanging in the center of the main dome.
Beautiful mosaic work on walls and around the arches. Some smaller matching chandeliers are hanging in the hall.
Everything is amazing.
These corridors feature pointed and intricately decorated archways and stretch for hundreds of meters to encompass the central courtyards and prayer halls.
Along with beautiful open places for worshipers during Ramadan or Friday prayers. There are more entrances and a big open place. I like how the place is clean and peaceful.
Behind the arch, the main taller minaret looks incredible.
There is lots more to talk about this Grand Mosque, which is the Islamic culture, together with beautiful architecture and art, makes it very special. The experience is unforgettable.
Thank you for stopping by.
All images are taken by me, and a few I used from my husband's camera. Before composing the article, I used information from our guide (taxi driver). I went through several websites to collect more information. Please do not use any photos from this post without my permission.
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