Have you even heard of Oman? Do you know where it is?
The Sultanate of Oman is a small country, with a population around 2.5 to 3 million people. It has Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as neighbors.
Dates, limes, nuts, vegetables and livestock form the basis for one portion of its economy, but there is no question its major product, like that of its neighbors, is oil.
As we were driving around the capitol city of Muscat, our guide was explaining the road we were on did not exist 25 years ago. This, he explained, was a perfect example of how, only
recently, the area is coming into modern times. Though the land is ancient, everything here is new, and upscale. There are more Mercedes Benz dealerships in Oman than anywhere else, except for the city
of Dubai.
The population is predominantly Muslim Arab, and there are beautiful mosques throughout the city. But the central mosque is a site to behold.
It is officially known as the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, a gift from the Sultan to his people. It was begun in 1995, and completed in 2001. While I don’t like statistics, aside
from the obvious artistry of its design, there are two things about the mosque whose statistics must be included:
First, the floor of the prayer hall is covered with an enormous carpet. How enormous? 263-square-metres (that’s a lot of football fields!) And for those of you for whom such things are important,
it contains, 1,700 million knots, weighs 21 tons, and took four years to produce!
If that wasn’t enough to get your attention, then know the main prayer hall has 35 chandeliers made of Swarovski crystal and gilded metals. The central chandelier, hanging in the
center from the highest point of the dome, is 14 meters in height and eight meters across, has 1,122 lights, and weighs eight tons. |
