INCENSE MUSEUM AND AL BALID CITY

Situated on the seafront, a stone's throw from the heart of the city and close to a khor supplying fresh water from the mountains, Al Balid forms a vast complex measuring 1,600 metres by 400 metres. An extraordinary site, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 under the generic term "Land of Incense". Archaeological excavations begun in 1952 revealed in 1970 the remains of an ancient city identified as Zafar, visited by Marco Polo in 1295. They also revealed the presence of an earlier Iron Age settlement. This settlement probably survived long after the Iron Age, despite the absence of any specific mention in Ptolemy's Geographia. Its importance in the Islamic era is beyond doubt, and its re-foundation in its current geography seems to date back to the ^11th century. The city began to decline in the ^12th century. In the ^13th century, it was annexed and partially destroyed on several occasions, both by Arab rulers and by Persian invaders. Ibn Battuta, the indefatigable Tangier native, discovered it in 1331. Horses, fish oil and, above all, incense were exported there. From here, for centuries, caravans headed north to Petra, Alexandria and beyond to Sumer, Persia and Greece. It was also in the port of Al-Balid that incense cargoes were loaded on their way up the Red Sea.

Excavations have uncovered the remains of a palace and a large mosque. You can also still see where the bodies of the deceased were washed before being buried in the nearby cemetery. At the end of the ^15th century, the radical changes to trade patterns imposed by the Portuguese and other European trading nations sealed the city's fate.

The only fully excavatedsite is that of the great ^10th-centurymosque, which measured 40 by 48.5 meters and was surrounded by an outer platform on all sides except the east, where the ablutions platform was located. The main prayer hall was flanked by several rows of octagonal columns, 144 in all, which supported the roof, the construction of which is unknown. These columns (one of which is preserved in the museum), reduced in height, can still be seen today, as you head west, to the right, from the park entrance. Thanks to the visionary action of the authorities and the support of archaeologist Michael Jansen from the University of Aachen in Germany, Al Balid is a buried city that is no longer totally buried. The ruins can be explored on foot, and in part by small boat, along well-defined paths until they reach the seafront, within the framework of an archaeological park.

The museum is logically named Terre de l'Encens (Land of Incense ), in keeping with its UNESCO designation. It is divided into two parts: one devoted to the history of incense and the Sultanate of Oman, the other to maritime history. The first room, at the far end of the courtyard, contains a relief model of the sultanate. The floor is covered with every type of sand found in the country and the walls are covered with photographs. The four varieties of incense produced in Oman are on display, including the famous Al Hojari: a top-quality resin often used for medical treatment. Numerous artefacts, dating from prehistoric times to the present day and discovered in archaeological digs in the adjacent park, are also on display.

The maritime section meticulously recreates the various facets of a relationship with the marine world whose first manifestations date back to the ^4th millennium B.C. Shipbuilding, navigation, maritime routes and far-flung trading posts reveal the creativity of master carpenters and the entrepreneurial spirit of these sailor-merchants who, long before our era, dared to embark on a maritime adventure. This section is the culmination of decades of research: by archaeologists, who have succeeded in reconstructing the boats of the ^3rd millennium B.CC; those of naval architects and shipwrights who have painstakingly drawn up plans of wrecks on the verge of disappearing forever; those of Mesopotamian specialists who, through these clay tablets, reveal what the first commercial exchanges with the Arabian Peninsula were like; and finally, those of historians and curators from Muscat and Cairo, as well as the Louvre and the British Museum, who have willingly opened their collections to us.

The section devoted to navigation shows how Oman's herders and caravan chiefs, these desert navigators, took to the sea and quickly acquired the art of navigation. The museum also exhibits a whole range of instruments including ancient terrestrial globes and fabulous astrolabes, such as the one by Al Naqashi dated 1080. Brass astrolabes were made all over the Muslim world, and used mainly to find the qibla (direction of Mecca). The earliest specimen dates from 927-928. The manufacture of the first astrolabe in the Muslim world is attributed to Muhammad al-Fazari

Also on site : a coffee shop, a craft boutique and a bookshop.