Ancient City Qalhat to get a facelift

SUR: The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism is working on a renovation project at Qalhat, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2018.

To date, the ancient city’s outer fence, the mosque, and reservoirs have already been renovated.

New pathways for tourists have been prepared as part of a plan devised by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism to develop tourism in the city and prepare it to receive local and international tourists in a way that preserves the authenticity of the ancient city.

The Ancient City of Qalhat is located on the eastern coast, approximately 20 kilometers north of the city of Sur. The property includes the entire Ancient City of Qalhat, demarcated by its inner and outer walls, which extends over 35 hectares, as well as areas outside the walls where the necropolises are situated.

The city was an important port on the sea of Oman along the East Arabian Coast, which allowed for trade with the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean and hence functioned as a trade center between India and through it East and South East Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Qalhat flourished in the 11th to 16th century CE under the rule of the Princes of Hormuz, who coordinated vital exports of horses, dates, incense, and pearls. Following Portuguese attacks, the Ancient city of Qalhat was abandoned in the 16th century and has since been preserved as an archaeological site. The remains and monuments on site comprehensively represent a port city of the Kingdom of Hormuz and reflect its legacy, architecture, and urban design.

Qalhat exhibits the cultural and commercial interchange of values within the trading range of the Kingdom of Hormuz, which extended to India and as far as China and South East Asia.

The archaeological site of Qalhat provides physical evidence of these interchanges, documenting the architectural features which indicate its own produce, dates, Arabian horses as well as spices and pearls but also integrating the multi-cultural features of a medieval cosmopolitan city, with houses influenced by the needs of their various owners and inhabitants of foreign cultural origin. The ancient city also includes a number of highly representative buildings which were references in narratives authored by historic travelers.

The Ancient City of Qalhat presents a unique testimony to the Kingdom of Hormuz, as it prospered from the 11th to 16th century CE. Ancient Qalhat presents exceptional evidence of a major trade hub, which came under the rule of the Princes of Hormuz and profited from its geo-political position in the region. It was a seasonal residence and refuge to the Princes of Hormuz, which has given it the title of a secondary capital of the larger kingdom. The urban plan and the excavated buildings of Qalhat show features and characteristics specific to the Kingdom of Hormuz and the archaeological remains are its most complete representation and provide further potential for a more detailed understanding of its ways of life and trade.