We have three days in Oman. Day one we planned to tour the city itself as there are a few things to see here before we ventured out to the countryside. We decided what better way to spend Christmas morning than a tour of the Grand Mosque.
The mosque is built from 300,000 tons of Indian sandstone. The main prayer hall is square with a central dome rising to a height of 150 feet above the floor. The dome and the main minaret and four flanking minarets are the mosque’s chief visual features.
The gardens around special mosques are always so peaceful and nice. Inside the mosque a major feature of the design is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1.7 billion (!!!) knots, weighs 21 tons, and took four years to produce, and brings together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colors in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It is the second largest single piece carpet in the world.
It was surprisingly not crowded for our visit. Above the carpet was an enormous chandelier hanging from the dome.
For any good Muslim to enter any mosque they must perform ablutions and there are separate ablution rooms for men and women. Here is a picture of the women’s ablutions room.
There is a entire cleansing ritual that happens, all in a specific order each time. Face, neck, inside the nose, inside the ears, inside the mouth, then hands and feet before they may enter the mosque.
The mosque also serves as a school. A class of boys walked by as we roamed the grounds.
Behind the boys you’ll see a promenade that runs the length of the school. Inside the arches are mosaics every few feet, and each is different than the next. You could make an entire book out of the mosaics themselves but we’ll share only one so you can see it up close.
It was a beautiful visit and if you come here make sure you visit the Grand Mosque.
