{"id":931,"date":"2022-09-26T19:45:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/the-giant-mud-fortress-of-bahla-the-city-of-magic\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:46:56","slug":"the-giant-mud-fortress-of-bahla-the-city-of-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/the-giant-mud-fortress-of-bahla-the-city-of-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Giant Mud Fortress of Bahla, the City of Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Bahla Town is located about 200 km from Muscat, the capital of Oman.  Bahla Fort, one of the most important structures of the town, is one of the 4 forts located at the foot of the Jebel Akhdar mountains.  The sand colored mud castle, which belongs to the pre-Islamic period, is a complex structure.  The fort, which is spread over a wide area on a high hill, is the oldest fort in Oman.  Bahla Fort is an outstanding example of a medieval oasis settlement.  There is not much information about this mud castle, which looks magnificent in the middle of the oasis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The castle was built with bricks made of cooked mud and straw.  For this reason, it has been eroded and damaged over time.  It was opened to visitors in 2012 after a restoration process of more than 20 years.  Bahla Fort was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.  From 1988 to 2004, it was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger.  Other places to see in Bahla are Nizwa Fort, Jabreen Fort, and Nizwa&#8217;s market and bazaar.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3835\" data-lazy-=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla5-1024x768.jpg\" title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla5-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3835\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-bahla-kalesinin-tarihi\">History of Bahla Castle<\/h3>\n<p>Bahla Castle;  It was used in different time periods in pre-Islamic periods.  For this reason, the exact date of construction is not known.  It is estimated to have been built by the Banu Nabhan community between the 12th and 15th centuries.  It was later expanded by other communities that added to the castle&#8217;s splendor.  The Banu Nabhan community controlled the frankincense (an expensive tree resin burned as incense) trade at that time.<\/p>\n<p>Bahla Castle complex;  It consists of three parts: the castle, the castle oasis and the 13-kilometer city wall.  The ancient wall that surrounded the city was mostly destroyed, only part of it still standing.  Most of the oasis is in ruins, but the castle and some of its houses are still standing.  Bahla Castle, a gigantic structure;  It is a labyrinthine structure with two mosques, two guesthouses, seven wells, four round wind towers, many rooms and passages.  On the ground floor there is a historic room resembling a wine cellar.  The castle is designed in an almost triangular shape, the height of the eastern facade is approximately 114 meters and the height of the southern facade is approximately 112 meters.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3841\" data-lazy-=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla10-1024x683.jpg\" title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla10-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3841\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>Most of the buildings in Bahla Town are built from traditional mud bricks that are hundreds of years old.  There are many legends about demons and sorcerers in Bahla, which is called the &#8220;City of Magic&#8221;.  There is an evergreen oasis on the mountain side of the castle.  Even during mostly dry periods of the year, plants and date palms can stay alive thanks to the irrigation system common in this region of Oman.  These channels, which channel the water well, ensure the effective use of seasonal precipitation and underwater resources.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3836\" data-lazy-=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla6-1024x768.jpg\" title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla6-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3836\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h3>Legends Told About Bahla Fort<\/h3>\n<p>Many legends are told about the Bahla Fort.  There are stories that the castle was built overnight by a woman alone or by demons and spirits.  Another story concerns the long duration of the restoration of the castle.  It is said that an invisible force at night prolongs the restoration process.  The stones erected during the day are plastered with mortar, and at night these plasters dissolve and the wall collapses and turns into a ruin.  In the city of Bahla, where magic and sorcery work is intense, 1400 years ago, a sorcerer was stoned to death by the villagers.  This wizard cast a black magic on a tree in the castle.  It is believed that anyone who touches this tree will die untimely.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"726\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3837\" data-lazy-=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla7-1024x726.jpg\" title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/bahla7-1024x726.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3837\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<h5>Share<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bahla Town is located about 200 km from Muscat, the capital of Oman. Bahla Fort, one of the most important structures of the town, is one of the 4 forts located at the foot of the Jebel Akhdar mountains. The sand colored mud castle, which belongs to the pre-Islamic period, is a complex structure. The &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-what","category-where"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kasifiz.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}