BAHLA FORT

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.