Khasab Castle

Khasab Castle stands near the shore of the bay of Khasab, the main town of Musandam, the Omani exclave that juts into the Strait of Hormuz opposite the coast of Iran. It is a compact fort of stone and mortar, with a courtyard, thick walls and towers, and inside the courtyard rises an older freestanding tower, which many believe predates the rest.

The fort in its present form was built in the early seventeenth century by the Portuguese, who then controlled much of the Gulf's trade from their base at Hormuz, as a station where their ships could take on water and dates on the way through the strait. The site may have been fortified before them. After the Portuguese were driven from the area in the course of the seventeenth century, the fort passed to the Omanis, who adapted it and used it for centuries as a residence of the local governor.

Restored in the 1990s, the castle is now a museum of Musandam life. In its rooms and courtyard are displays of traditional houses, boats, weapons and crafts. From its walls there are views over the harbour, where fishing boats and dhows tie up, and of the mountains that close in on the town on every side. Musandam has always looked across the strait as much as inland: its mountain villages keep their own speech, among them Kumzari, an Iranian language, and boats still cross daily between Khasab and the Iranian coast.