Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Imposing from the outside, this glorious piece of modern Islamic architecture was a gift to the nation of Sultan Qaboos to celebrate its thirtieth year of reign. The main prayer hall is breathtakingly beautiful. The Persian carpet alone measures 70 meters by 60 meters wide, making it the second largest Iranian hand-shaped rug in the world; it took 600 women for four years to weave. Mwasalat buses stop in front of the mosque. The mosque is built on a site that occupies 416,000 m2 (4,480,000 square feet) and the complex covers an area of ​​40,000 m2 (430,000 square feet). The new great mosque was inaugurated by the Sultan of Oman on 4 May 2001 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his reign. The mosque, which can hold 20,000 faithful, including 750 women in a private room (prayer hall), is an active place of worship, particularly for Friday prayers. An important feature of interior design is the prayer rug that covers the floor of the prayer room. It contains 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tons and took four years to produce and brings together the classic Persian design traditions Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan. 28 colors were used in various shades, most obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It was the largest one-piece rug in the world, but now it is the second, after the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. [8] This hand-woven rug was produced by the Iran Carpet Company (ICC) under the order of the Diwan of the Royal Court of Sultanate. The carpet measures over 70 by 60 meters (230 by 200 feet) and covers the surface area of ​​4,343 m2 (46,750 square feet) of the prayer hall. The chandelier above the prayer hall is 14 meters high and was manufactured by the Italian company Faustig. Since the mosque is 90 meters high, the chandler seems proportional, but it was the largest chandelier in the world, [7] before being replaced in this regard by the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. [9] It weighs 8.5 tons, includes 600,000 crystals, 1,122 halogen bulbs with dimming system and includes a scale for maintenance inside the chandelier. Thirty-four smaller chandeliers of the same design are hung in other parts of the building.

Royal Opera House

Photo stop The Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) is Oman's premier venue for musical arts and culture. The opera house is located in Shati Al-Qurm district of Muscat on Sultan Qaboos Street. Built on the royal orders of Sultan Qaboos of Oman, the Royal Opera House reflects unique contemporary Omani architecture, and has a capacity to accommodate maximum of 1,100 people. The opera house complex consists of a concert theatre, auditorium, formal landscaped gardens, cultural market with retail, luxury restaurants and an art centre for musical, theatrical and operatic productions.