We finally got to the Grand Mosque during visitor hours, and it was breathtaking. I don’t have a huge number of pictures of the interior; I think I was too dazzled to take many (plus there were so many people around). I have many more from the outside (where we spent considerably more time) including pictures of a large number of ceramic panels on the perimeter of the complex that I just loved.

This picture only shows a fraction of the complex, which is enormous, with five minarets and a number of buildings in addition to the mosque itself.

The Grand Mosque was a gift to the nation by Sultan Qaboos to celebrate the 30th year of his reign and was inaugurated in 2001. The mosque contains the second largest hand-loomed carpet in the world, measuring 70 meters by 60 meters. It was produced in Iran and took 600 women four years to weave and contains 1,700,000,000 knots and weighs 21 tons.

The last pictures posted of the opera house at night pretty much wrap up the main Oman gallery, maybe a few minor additions later. Thanks so much for the great support! I’m already dying to go back!