Notes on the Geography of Oman: Jibrin

Oman's grandest fort--Bahla--has been closed for years while bureaucratic wars are fought over its proper restoration.  Nearby Jibrin Fort is a good alternative, however, a fortress converted into a fortress-palace about 1680 by Bilarab bin Sultan, son of Nizwa Fort's builder. Greatly enlarged 40 years later by Muhammad bin Nasir, Jibrin was superbly restored in the early 1980s from a state of near-ruin. The work was done by Oman's Ministry of National Heritage and Culture under the direction of Enrico D'Errico.

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The design is externally simple but internally much more complex: the massive walls--more than six feet thick to withstand cannon--enclose two rectangular blocks separated by a courtyard and connected to each other by only a narrow passage.  Not quite a maze, the floor plan is still very hard to figure out.

One block has latticework shading clerestory windows.

Topside view over the oasis and plain.

Courtyard wall, seen from the roof.

The same balcony, seen from the ground.

Finely scalloped ogee arch over an entrance from the courtyard.

Internal door.

The mihrab of the mosque.  No clocks, no microphones, no fluorescent tubes, no framed pictures.  Listen to the silence.

Upstairs living quarters.  The height and clerestories help keep the place relatively cool.

The thick walls help, too.  Here, the sun and moon room.

A clerestory window in that room.

Wall above a fireplace.

Ceiling support.

Carved roof beam.

Downstairs, water once arrived through Falaj Jibrin, which runs through the length of the fort.

Another view, showing a branch channel.

Doorless cupboards.

Date stores.

Trays.

Cooking utensils.

Mortars and pestles.

Urn.

Spandrel over the tomb of the fort's builder, Bala'rab bin Sultan (d. 1692).

Barrel vault over the tomb