# Bawshar Fort, near Muscat, Oman, July 2014



## HughieD (Nov 10, 2014)

The old fort at Bosher, near Oman's capital city Muscat, was difficult to find. I'd seen pictures of it and what attracted me to it was that, unlike a lot of old forts in Oman, it hadn't been restored up to the eyeballs and looked like a true "ruin". The first difficulty in finding the place was that there are, as far as I can see, about four alternative ways of spelling Bosher/Bawshar/Bausher/Bousher! The second confusion is that there are two forts in the area. On the first mission to find the fort I ended up at the perfectly restored "Bait Al Maqgam" fort which is all nice and good but too 'clean' and also private. I then established it was the Portuguese-designed "Al Fetah" fort that I was after. On my second sortie with the meter on the incredibly expensive taxi ticking away and dusk slowly falling, I came across some locals who knew where the fort in question was. Although it is near habitation, the old crumbling fort is far from a tourist attraction and has been left to quietly just crumble away, like many abandoned old Omani buildings. Just like finding the fort itself, I have also struggled to find any information/history about the place itself, apart from the fact that it is located the base of 'White Mountain' (part of the Jebel A' Sharqee) outside Muscat.

Time to get on with the pictures themselves…

General view of the fort:


img0331 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Outbuildings constructed using traditional Omani building techniques:


img0332 by HughieDW, on Flickr


…slowly being reclaimed by nature:


img0330 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Closer overview of the fort:


img0333 by HughieDW, on Flickr


One of the two circular towers:


img0334 by HughieDW, on Flickr


The beautifully carved entrance door frame:


img0335 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Inside most of the floors have gone and it's just down to the walls:


img0336 by HughieDW, on Flickr


There's some original floor here, perhaps not the best place to hang around though:


img0337 by HughieDW, on Flickr


The odd floor posts here and there:


img0338 by HughieDW, on Flickr


The second of the two circular towers:


img0339 by HughieDW, on Flickr


The other tower has a rather telling split down it:


img0340 by HughieDW, on Flickr


Bye bye Bowsher fort, however you spell your name!


img0341 by HughieDW, on Flickr


----------



## King Al (Nov 10, 2014)

Cool report Hughie, fascinating to see the different architecture  Looks like this was a very grand building once!


----------



## flyboys90 (Nov 10, 2014)

Stunning features! I would love to have seen it in its day.Thanks for sharing these great photos.


----------



## Infraredd (Nov 10, 2014)

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful ruin it looks really dodgy inside!


----------



## mockingbird (Nov 10, 2014)

wow really nice!


----------



## HughieD (Nov 11, 2014)

flyboys90 said:


> Stunning features! I would love to have seen it in its day.Thanks for sharing these great photos.



Cheers folks. In answer to your question Mr Flyboys, it probably didn't look too different from the fully restored fort a few miles away at Bait Al Maqgam...i.e. like this:


----------



## HughieD (Nov 12, 2014)

OK, let's try again. THIS is what it would have looked more like in better days....


img7496 by HughieDW, on Flickr


----------

