Oman · 12th century
Bahla Fort (Arabic: قلعة بهلاء, romanized: Qalʿat Bahlāʿ) is one of four historic fortresses situated at the foot of the Jebel Akhdar highlands in Oman and was the country's first UNESCO-listed fort added in 1987.
In 1988, the Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn became the second Omani site to be declared World Heritage by UNESCO.
Bahla Fort underwent massive restoration efforts and reopened in 2012. However, the complex lacks in visitor information. There are no exhibits or brochures available to learn more about this large space or guides at hand to provide further details, so people either need to go on a tour or explore on their own.
Text adapted from “Bahla Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Bahla Fort ranks #1,127 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #2 of the 13 mapped in Oman. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,310 times in the last 60 days, more than 73% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Oman compares in the castle statistics.
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