GREAT SULTAN QABOOS MOSQUE

Located in the Al Ghubrah district, at the northern entrance to the city, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the most majestic in the entire sultanate, can be seen from the highway linking Seeb airport to Muscat's inner suburbs. Although it is visually second only to another more recent and equally beautiful mosque - the Mohammed Al Ameen Mosque - the Great Mosque of Sultan Qaboos is the first impressive building to be seen on entering the capital. Alongside the Royal Opera House in the Qurm district and the National Museum of Oman in Old Muscat, it is one of the major structures commissioned during the reign of Sultan Qaboos.

With a surface area of 416,000 m² and room for 20,000 worshippers, this superb place of worship, inaugurated in 2001, reflects the spiritual strength of the nation. Its construction, which took more than six years, was entrusted to two architectural firms, one Omani (Architects International) and the other London-based (Quad Design), who favoured a blend of modernity and tradition. The entire complex is clad in cream-coloured "arabescato" sandstone in the prayer areas and lilac-coloured "taj" in the riwaqs (transitional spaces between interior and exterior with arcades). The stones were imported from India and cut in Muscat. The mosque's main entrance is on the south side and opens onto a beautiful flower garden. It leads to three other entrances, all of which open onto vast open spaces. The whole building consists of a vast platform at the heart of which is the main prayer hall and a smaller one for women. The limits of this sacred space are marked at each corner by a minaret, which rises to a height of around 45 metres, in addition to the main minaret, the fifth, 91.5 metres high, echoing the 5 pillars of Islam. On either side of the main buildings, as if framing them, are the riwaq: 240-metre-long arcaded corridors, decorated with mosaics and several domes, and housing the auxiliary rooms - notably the ablutions areas and a library rich in Arabic and English-language works that can be consulted on site.

The highlight of the visit isthe men's prayer hall , a masterly place, as much for its sheer size as for the beauty of its decorative materials and interior ornamentation: columns, stained glass windows, arcades, precious woodwork, finely sculpted ceilings, superb floral motifs... 6,500 people at a time can gather in the heart of the hall, under an immense dome rising to a height of fifty meters. The walls are entirely clad in white marble panels, dressed with carved tiles and decorated with geometric and floral motifs, as well as calligraphic inscriptions. At the far end, facing the heavy carved doors of the entrance, the mihrab facing Mecca is inlaid with carved earthenware tiles, with gold-colored tangles.

The Persian carpet is one of the room's jewels. Covering an area of 4,263 sq. m. in a single piece, it measures 70 x 60 meters, weighs no less than 21 tons, is made up of 1,700 million knots and comes in 28 shades, most of them obtained from vegetable dyes. Entirely hand-woven by 600 professionals, supervised by 15 experts from the Iranian province of Khurasan, it took four years to make. The carpet was brought to the main prayer hall in 58 pieces, which were assembled on site by specialists. Visitors are not allowed to tread freely on this vast and superb single piece, which is, to this day, the largest handmade Persian carpet in the world.

The chandeliers are the other centerpiece of the men's prayer room. No fewer than 35 of them, made of Swarowski crystals and gold-plated pieces, illuminate the great hall. The most imposing stands beneath the dome. It's a masterpiece, eight metres in diameter and fourteen metres high. Weighing eight tons, it is illuminated by 1,122 bulbs.

The stained glass windows are also remarkable, and were created by a French company, France Vitrail International. To enhance the building's prestige, the traditional technique was chosen. This uses only antique glass of uneven thickness, set with lead and then tinted with metal oxides.

Despite its beautiful woodwork doors and ceilings,the women's prayer room is much more sober than the main hall, and has no mihrab. Tradition dictates that women pray at home. As a result, the mosque's women's hall is much smaller, and can only accommodate 750 worshippers. It is equipped with audiovisual facilities, enabling women to pray under the guidance of the imam, whose preaching is broadcast live from the men's prayer room.