Fodor's Expert Review Jibreen (Jabrin) Castle

Built on a flat plain 30 minutes from Nizwa, the 300-year-old castle has 55 rooms spread over five floors. It's considered the most beautiful historic castle in Oman thanks to intact details, which include elaborately painted ceilings, a burial chamber with intricately carved walls, a wooden latticed-windowed courtyard, an elaborate stairwell, Islamic inscriptions and frescoes decorating the rooms, and traditional hand-carved doors. Two particularly interesting spaces are the two ancient meeting rooms of the Imam. The light-filled Sun Room has 14 windows—seven set high near the ceiling and seven lower near the floor—a clever architectural detail that ensured the room was cool year round, as the cold air enters from the lower windows and pushes the warm air from the top windows. The Moon room, on the other hand, was designed for meetings with new or untrustworthy guests, built with four interconnecting secret hideouts under the floor where the Imam's soldiers would wait to ensure his safety. READ LESS