Muscat

Muscat is the capital city of Oman. It lies by the sea.

Mountains stand all around the city.

Muscat is the capital of Oman. Muscat itself, where the palace and government offices are, had 24,099 people at the 2020 census. Together with the port of Matrah and newer districts, it forms one city, split into separate districts, on a notch of coast on the Gulf of Oman, ringed by volcanic mountains.

Universalis says this whole city has about a million people, nearly one in three of the people of Oman. Muscat Governorate counted 1,302,440 people at the 2020 census.

Ministry of National Economy (via City Population), 2020 census (12 December 2020): Muscat 24,099 (2003: 19,891; 2010: 20,272); Muscat Governorate 1,302,440 (2010: 775,878), the governorate also holding Seeb (470,878), Bawshar (362,523) and Matrah (230,881).

Universalis (Brigitte Dumortier): from two renovated cores, Muscat (25,000 people in 2020), with the palace and the organs of government, and Matrah (230,000), around its fishing port and souk, a fragmented, polycentric city has grown, shaped by its site: a coastal notch on the Gulf of Oman surrounded by volcanic mountains. It has close to a million people, nearly one in three of the country's people, and covers about 150 km².

It is night in Muscat! Street lights glow orange, and palm trees line the roads.

Far away, a big white building with two tall towers shines brightly.

This photo shows Muscat at night on 27 January 2020, taken from a hotel. Rows of pale houses and flats glow under orange street lights, palm trees line a wide road, and passing cars leave streaks of red and white light. In the distance a mosque with two tall minarets is lit up white, and on the left, roads with lights climb the dark hills.

In Old Muscat stands the National Museum, which opened on 30 July 2016. Its collection focuses on objects made in Oman or closely linked to Oman's heritage, its official site says.

Commons: 'Muscat from Hilton Garden Inn Muscat', 27 January 2020, own work by Davide Mauro (uploader Codas, whose user page gives that name), CC BY-SA 4.0; no camera location.

National Museum official site: established in 2013 and opened on 30 July 2016; its collection focuses on objects created in Oman or with a particular connection to Oman's cultural heritage; the museum calls itself the first in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script for visually impaired visitors. Wikidata places it about 0.3 km SSE of the city's point, with the Bait al Zubair Museum (opened 1998) about 0.3 km W and Fort Al-Mirani about 0.4 km NNE.

Muscat has an old market called a souk. It also has museums and an opera house.

In Matrah, next to the fishing port, is a souk, a traditional market, Universalis says. Old Muscat has museums about Oman's past: the National Museum, opened in 2016, and the Bait al Zubair Museum, opened in 1998, Wikidata says.

Further west, the Royal Opera House Muscat dates from 12 October 2011, Wikidata says. In the 1970s, Universalis says, its neighborhoods were home to Omani, Baluchi, Persian, Indian and African communities.

Universalis: Matrah is organized around its fishing port and souk; in the 1970s the population was made up of community groups (Omanis, Baluchis, Persians, Indians, Africans) each with its own quarters; this older cosmopolitanism has merged with an inflow of people from the countryside and immigrants.

National Museum official site: established 2013, opened 30 July 2016, collection centered on objects made in Oman or linked to its cultural heritage; it describes itself as the first museum in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script. Wikidata: Bait al Zubair Museum (opened 1998), Royal Opera House Muscat (2011-10-12).