Bawshar marble

In this part of the city, modern Muscat meets old traditional buildings at the foot of the Hajar Mountains. The light colored rock which you find at this location is considered to be the best marble deposit in Oman due to its attractive banding. Originally the rock was limestone laid down as part of a coral reef.The marble developed during the late cretaceous, around 90 to 70 million years ago. At this time the limestone was changed or metamorphosed under huge pressure from overlying hot and heavy Ophiolite rocks.The old building next to the car park is part of an old village. At one time most buildings in Oman were hand made from mud bricks and often covered by sarooj, a hard cement like plaster. The art of building using this method was passed on orally from father to son. These days with the availability of modern stronger building materials the incentive to use these traditional high maintenance and time consuming methods is declining.