Epilogue

Development under the direction of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has brought welcome changes to the life of the Manhis. The people see these changes as the new gift of God, and quite rightly so. Today there is a renewed sense of optimism. It was partly the complex problem of introducing running water and electricity, and partly the lure of modern and safer construction, that prompted the inhabitants to desert the old settlement in the early days of the making of this modern nation. To retain historic and cultural continuity, important pieces of architecture, mostly forts but also palaces and mosques, have been restored to their past glory. By conserving towns such as Bilad Manah in their entirety, with their institutions and dwellings, their mosques and sabla-s, their public and private spaces, we can now take a step further and place such architectural masterpieces in true perspective. In doing so we shall not only page-mark important events in Omani cultural history, we shall also highlight the unique features of Omani material culture and social life. In other words, we shall arrive at a deeper understanding of Omani identity. At night, sculpted out of darkness, she stands desolate and derelict. The sense of desolation is only heightened in the mid-day heat through the incessant activity of the cricket, the beetle and the termite. The occasional visitors – some Omanis, a few expatriates – visit the Bilad; they roam around aimlessly recording picturesque ruins – for some it is their second or third visit. Decades to disinterest has begun to take its toll: a collapsed wall here, a fallen roof there, the disappearance of a passage they had noticed earlier, a sleeping room precariously suspended in mid air revealing fragments of inhabitation and negotiation. Utensil, clothing, toys, possessions, books – all left behind, all strung within a disappearing framework of building fabric;

Figure 43 (left) - Inscription as decoration. Omani doors are an open book of beliefs, of cultural continuity and of wide ranging interactions.

Figure 44 (right) - Door decoration show the continuation of age-old methods of representation. Here techniques of decoration exhibit knowledge of working with the most commonly available ingredient of an oasis settlement, date palm leaves. Figure 45 (far-right) - Utensil, clothing, toys, possessions, books . . . all left behind, all strung within a disappearing framework of building fabric; decay has resulted in painful revelation.

decay has resulted in painful revelation.