Travel Diaries - Visit to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Last month with my guest in town I was busy taking them around the city. A lot of places were repetition for me, but I was enjoying it since it was after a long time. In the last 3 years I had no guests due to Covid situation but now this year I have many visitors. With my cousin and her daughters we made a visit to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque which is one of the iconic structures of our City. It stands right in the heart of the Muscat city and it is a masterpiece of modern Islamic architecture. This was my third visit and I was still feeling in awe just like the first time I visited the place. The Mosque is open to non-Islamic visitors also. Though one has to be mindful about their attire while visiting the place. For females it is a must that the head, hands and legs are covered to enter the mosque.

I will explain to you about this mosque as I take you through the pictures. The mosque is built with all white marble and gives a very serene look.

There are 2 prayer rooms. One for Females and the other one for Males. The female prayer room is quite simple. Though the wooden carving on the ceilings and the doors here are something to fascinate about and you cannot miss the chandeliers.

There are many visual features in this mosque on the outside and the inside like the Dome and the 4 Minarets.

The next is the male prayer room, which is the most attractive one and the main feature of this Mosque. The interior walls of the mosque are all white and grey marbles and they are all covered with geometrical and free flowing leafy patters.

The main attraction of this hall is the Chandelier and the Carpet. The Chandelier is 14 meters high weighing 8.5 tons and studded with 600K crystals. It was one of the largest Chandelier till the one in Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi came up. All the other smaller Chandeliers in the hall are a replica of this main one. It is a beauty to watch this one and the designs on the ceiling surrounding it is also magnificent.

Now coming to the Carpet. It is a hand woven one piece carpet. Again till one point of time it used to be one of the largest carpet later taken over by the Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque. The Carpet has classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan tradition designs. It weighs 21 tones , covers 70x60 meters and it took 4 years to complete this carpet. A masterpiece is what you can say about this carpet.