03Cities and regions

The capital

Muscat

Muscat is Oman's capital and largest city, and its governorate is home to about 1.72 million people. The houses are low and white, hemmed in by rocky mountains on the land side and by the sea on the other. The best-known landmark is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, completed in 2001 in sandstone, with five minarets, the tallest of them 90 metres high. Its main hall is covered by a single hand-knotted carpet with 1.7 million knots that took four years to weave, under a chandelier 14 metres tall. In the Shati Al-Qurm district stands the Royal Opera House, opened in 2011, with room for about 1,100 people. Muttrah is the city's old trading port, with a corniche curving along the water and a souq that goes back about two hundred years. In Old Muscat, the Al Jalali and Al Mirani forts sit on rocks on either side of the harbour, near the National Museum and its fourteen permanent galleries. Give the city at least two days, and walk the Muttrah Corniche at sunset when the heat eases.

about 1.72 million

Muscat Governorate population

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Main minaret of the Grand Mosque

2011

Royal Opera House opened

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Permanent galleries at the National Museum