Forts in Oman
Over the centuries forts were built all over Oman because of its strategic location on the south-east corner of Arabia on the Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean. Forts were built by the Omanis themselves, as well as a few built by the Portuguese during the 16th century. The forts were also the product of many turbulent periods in Oman’s history during which the conservative interior and the more liberal coastal regions struggle for control of the country and the centres of power flitted back and forth between the coastal cities of Muscat and Sohar and the inland cities of Nizwa and Rustaq.
Nizwa Fort
The fort at Nizwa is impressive if only for it’s size and setting. The fort is huge and the jumble of corridors and staircases make it feel like a 3-D Escher picture. In one direction the fort’s towers offer views of the town’s chief landmark, an exquisite blue and gold domed mosque, and in the other there are views of the towns mud brick homes and groves of date palms. Dates are another Omani specialty and I visited at a time of year when the palms were heavy with fruit. The museum keeper offered visitors Arab coffee and fresh yellow dates in a shady corner of the fort, and I must say that those were some of the best dates and certainly the freshest that I’ve ever tasted.
Barka Fort
The most beautiful fort that we visited was the recently restored Jibreen fort with it’s colourful painted ceilings, delicate laticework windows, ornate doorways and shady inner courtyard. Inside the rooms are furnished with beautiful carved and decorated wooden tables, bright cushions and carpets and local pottery. Some ceilings and archways are decorated with verses from the Koran in ornate Arabic calligraphy. The overall feeling is of a well fortified but luxurious palace rather than a fortress. It certainly gives an insight into the lifestyle of imam and his family for whom the fort was originally built.
Jibreen Fort Oman
