Introducing Muscat

‘Muscat is a port the like of which cannot be found in the whole world where there is business and good things that cannot be found elsewhere.’

As the great Arab navigator Ahmed bin Majid al-Najdi recognised in AD 1490 Muscat, even to this day, has a character quite different from neighbouring capitals. There are few high-rise blocks, and even the most functional building is required to reflect tradition with a dome or an arabesque window. The result of these strict building policies is an attractive, spotlessly clean and whimsically uniform city – not much different in essence from the ‘very elegant town with very fine houses’ that the Portuguese admiral Alfonso de Alburqueque observed as he sailed towards Muscat in the 16th century.

Muscat means ‘anchorage’, and the sea continues to constitute a major part of the city: it brings people on cruise ships and goods in containers to the historic ports of Old Muscat and Mutrah. It contributes to the city’s economy through the onshore refinery near Qurm, and provides a livelihood for fishermen along the beaches of Shatti al-Qurm and Athaiba. More recently, it has also become a source of recreation at Al-Bustan and Bandar Jissah, and along the sandy beach that stretches almost without interruption from Muscat to the border with UAE, over 200km to the northwest.

Muscat is a forward-thinking, progressive city much loved by its citizens, and a beacon for those who live in the interior. In 2006 a new museum, Bait al-Baranda, was opened in the city’s honour. Its inauguration coincided with the choice of Muscat as Arab Cultural Capital – a fitting celebration of Muscat’s renaissance.