Jabreen is a beautifully restored 17th century Omani castle with decorated rooms and ceilings and well geared for tourist visits. Constructed as a place of learning and culture with a defensive shell the castle is very different to Nizwa and Bahla.
Visiting Jabreen Castle
We booked a private full day tour of Nizwa Fort, Jabreen Castle and Bahla Fort through Viator with Oman Golden Tours. The drive to Jabreen was around 2 hours from Muscat. There are plenty of tours available so it depends on priorities and budget. A private tour was obviously pricier but allowed me to see what I wanted to see without being given a time frame.
Driving to Bahla yourself is perfectly feasible, the roads are excellent, signs both extensive and in English and the driving standard seemed good. There is a large car park just past the fort entrance with the cannons.
My Experience
After visiting Jabreen Castle we decided that calling it a castle was really a misnomer, in the UK it would have been a fortified manor house. The outer wall was quite low and more for show than defence while the interior was beautifully decorated and a palace type residence.
The ceilings in some of the rooms were beautifully painted and others had ornate plaster work or stone inscriptions. Some rooms were furnished with carpets, travelling chests and books and there was also a small armoury to visit. The exhibition in one of the rooms told about the castle’s founder, Imam Bil’arab-bin Sultan al-Yarubi in the seventeenth century. He is actually buried in the castle and he helped expand Oman as far as the coast of Mozambique, building the countries wealth through trading in slaves. He defeated the Portuguese and even raided as far as India as well as expanding trade and education.
The rooms in Jabreen Castle were brighter than either of the previous forts, with tall windows in most rooms and the place had a lovely feel to it, despite being another warren. Interestingly, none of the places we visited today had a hamman, just bathrooms for sluicing yourself clean with water. My favourite feature and perhaps the one that made it most homely, was the open central courtyard. This was a beautiful and tranquil area in the middle of the fort that was immersed in shade but still plenty bright enough, just without some of the heat.
Jabreen Castle Photo Gallery
History
“Jabreen Castle is located in a small palm oasis, commanding a panoramic view of the expansive surrounding plain. Constructed using large stones and dark gray sandstone, the palace boasts a thick layer of sand and gypsum. The ceilings are intricately adorned and painted, reflecting the distinctive artistic taste of the palace’s creator.
Jibreen Fort, erected in 1670, was commissioned by Imam Balarab bin Sultan bin Saif Al Ya’rubi, the third Ya’rubi imam. He personally financed the construction during the reign of his father, Imam Sultan bin Saif Al Ya’rubi, who built the renowned Nizwa Fort. Initially designed as a palace for the imam, the fortress later served as a governmental seat. The fort comprises 5 floors and encompasses 55 rooms.
The fort was built in multiple stages and features two adjacent courtyards at its core. The right side of the first section stands at a height of 16 meters, while the second section reaches 22 meters. Within each courtyard, there is a well providing pure water for drinking and cooking, impervious to external contamination. These wells extend to depths of over 20 meters, ensuring a reliable water supply for the fort’s inhabitants.”
References
Unlike Bahla, Jabreen seems to have a large number of sites with information:
The official site of Jabreen Castle is here and the history above is copied from there.
There is a comprehensive guide to the castle on once in a lifetime journeys site here.
The restless beans have a great guide to the castle here.
Lovely photos again and an interesting place. It looks massive with 55 rooms and I love some of the decoration. That was a very busy day, but fascinating 🤨