Mutrah is a 16th century Portuguese fort, built alongside Al Jalali and Al Mirani to defend Muscat’s harbours from its hilltop location. Smaller than Al Jalali and Al Mirani the fort at Mutrah covered the overland route to the city as well as defending against naval assault.
Visiting Mutrah Fort
Mutrah Fort is outside of Old Muscat and near the cruise port. It is easy to get to by taxi or possibly even walking (which seems to be an unusual activity in Oman and pretty much every taxi will stop to check if you are ok!). If you drive yourself then there is a small car park right outside the fort. Entrance is 3 OMR from the ticket office next to the car park. There are a lot of steps to get to the top of the fort so be prepared.
My Experience
It’s quite a climb to get to and there isn’t much there, some eighteenth century canons and a 1930’s French Hotchkiss gun, all set up on battlements and turrets. I couldn’t see how to get in to the main tower at the east end of the fort but the views from the places we did get to were impressive.
From the battlements you could see at least five other watchtowers on the mountains surrounding the city, some more substantial than others. It does seem that every hilltop has a tower on it!
The fort is small and probably didn’t have many troops stationed there but it could mount a decent amount of artillery to deter any attackers. We were able to look down on a docked Russian ship, flying a flotilla commander’s flag so that was surprising. With a bit of research I found it is the Russian frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov (543), in the area after exercises in Qatar but I was surprised it was in Oman, considering Western/Russian relations at the moment.
Mutrah Fort Photo Gallery
History
“The fort is thought to have been built originally in 1507 AD, only to be modified and upgraded with towers and stronger walls by the Portuguese during their occupation of Oman in the 1560s. In the seventieth century, the Imam Saif bin Sultan the ruler of Oman has liberated Muttrah and Oman for the Portuguese and since then the fort remained an important defensive location following that period well into modern times.
Muttrah Fort is relatively small, as its main function has been for observation and defensive weapons, so it lacks any rooms or seating areas and is simply stretched along the hill offering multiple vantage points over Muttrah corniche, harbor and the stunning rocky ophiolite outcrops.”
References
The official site for the fort is here and the history above was copied from there.
The Oman Observer has a nice article on the fort here.