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10 Rials 2020, Oman

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Years of issue: 2020
Edition:
Signatures: Sultan of Oman: Haitham bin Tariq
Serie: 2020 Issue
Specimen of: 2020
Material: Hybrid material
Size (mm): 159 x 76
Printer: De la Rue currency,Loughton

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10 Rials 2020

Description

Watermark:

watermark

The Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq and denomination 10.

Avers:

10 Rials 2020

Sultan

Haitham bin Tariq Al Said GCMG GCVO (Arabic: هيثم بن طارق آل سعيد, romanized: Heysem bin Târık Âl Saîd; born 13 October 1954) is the current Sultan of Oman, reigning since January 2020 following the death of his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

Prior to becoming sultan, Haitham served for multiple decades in the cabinet of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, his cousin. He was Minister of Heritage and Culture from 2002 to 2020. Sultan Qaboos named Haitham as his successor in his will, and he was proclaimed sultan on 11 January 2020, hours after Qaboos's death.

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Centered is Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, in Muscat.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is the main mosque in the Sultanate of Oman. It is in the capital city of Muscat.

In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in 1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in December of 1994. Building work, which was undertaken by "Carillion Alawi LLC" took six years and seven months.

The mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 meters) with a central dome rising to a height of fifty metres above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 meters) and four flanking minarets (45.5 meters) are the mosque’s chief visual features. The main musalla can hold over 6,500 worshippers, while the women’s musalla can accommodate 750 worshipers. The outer paved ground can hold 8,000 worshipers and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshipers.

The mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 square meters and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square meters. The newly built Grand Mosque was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman on May 4, 2001.

A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce, and brings together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colors in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It is the second largest single piece carpet in the world. This hand-woven carpet was produced by Iran Carpet Company (ICC) at the order of the Diwan of the Royal Court of Sultanate. The carpet measures over 70 × 60 meters, and covers the 4,343 square meter area of the praying hall.

The chandelier above the praying hall is 14 meters tall and was manufactured by company Faustig from Italy.

emblem of Oman

In top left corner is the national emblem of Oman (شعار سلطنة عمان‎). It is an insignia consisting of a khanjar inside its sheath that is superimposed upon two crossed swords. Adopted in the XVIII century as the badge of the Omani royal family, it subsequently became the national emblem of the Sultanate of Oman. The emblem is featured at the canton on the Flag of Oman.

The national emblem was first designed in the mid-XVIII century, when it was adopted as the royal crest of the Al Said dynasty. Its usage was expanded when it subsequently became the national emblem of the sultanate. This occurred during the reign of either Faisal bin Turki (1888-1913) or Taimur bin Feisal (1913-1932). The emblem was later incorporated onto the canton of the country's national flag in 1970. Moreover, in order to distinguish "directly royal entities" and create a distinct symbol for these organizations, a crown was added to the top of the national emblem. This modified insignia is utilized on the badges of all branches of Sultan's Armed Forces, including the Royal Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Guard, and Royal Oman Police - among many others.

According to the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the khanjar - along with the two crossed swords - symbolize the historic weapons utilized by the people of Oman. They are attached together by an embellished horse-bit at the center. The khanjar itself is a national symbol of the sultanate, and is still worn by Omani men as a "ceremonial dagger" for formal occasions. It is a ceremonial dagger with its abundantly decorated sheath, traditionally made of rhinonoceros-horn, highly appreciated in the arab world and for that reason contributes substantially to the extinction of the rhinoceros in Africa.

On right side is hologram strip with denominations and hanjars (national emblem of Oman).

Varifeye thread and windowed security thread with demetallized "10 RIALS". In big hologram window is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, in Muscat.

Revers:

10 Rials 2020

Al-Baleed Archaeological Park

Al-Baleed Archaeological Park is an archaeological park located in Al Balīd (Arabic: البليد) of Salalah, Dhofar, Oman. It is a part of the Land of Frankincense in the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

The ruins in the park belong to the ancient city of Z̧afār (Arabic: ظفار) which also covers the adjacent area in Ar Rubāţ (Arabic: الرباط). Z̧afār, from which the Dhofar Governorate got its name, acted as an important port for frankincense trade during the medieval times, after the decline of the nearby port in Khor Rori. The Roman name for the city was Saffara Metropolis and it is known primarily from its placement, together with Ubar, on maps drawn by Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer.

It was visited by many famous travellers, such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Ibn al-Mujawir and Zheng He. The city declined in the XVI-XVII centuries due to various reasons such as closures of the lagoon (Khawr al Balīd) and Portuguese/Turkish/Mamluk invasion.

The site was rediscovered in 1992 by a team led by Nicholas Clapp and archaeologist Juris Zarins of Southwest Missouri State University.

The park also contains the Museum of the Land of Frankincense.

Niche of al-Uweyna Mosque

Niche of al-Uweyna Mosque. Located in the National Museum of Oman, Muscat.

Date of Object: 970 AH / 1562 AD.

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s): Talib bin Mushmil al-Manahi.

Museum Inventory Number: 2015,6148.

Material(s) / Technique(s): Stucco.

Dimensions: Height: 350 cm., Width: 280 cm.

Period / Dynasty: Al-Yarubi.

Provenance: Saih al-Hail village (ash-Sharqiyah North Governorate).

Description:

The X century AH/XVI century AD is considered the richest period for production of mihrabs (mosque niches), known for the work of masters like Abdullah bin Qasim al-Manahi and the family of Mushmil al-Manahi who lived during this time. Talib bin Mushmil al-Manahi, who built the niches of the Grand Mosque in Nakhl and as-Saruj Mosque in Samail, also made the niche of al-Uweyna Mosque in 970 AH/1562 AD. The niche on display is covered with geometrical decorations, fine inscriptions, quotes from the Holy Qur'an and inscriptions documenting the names of the builder, designer and the patron.

Niche of al-Uweyna Mosque

The Islamic ash-shahadatan (Declaration of Faith) is written in kufic inscription at the upper part of the niche and the outer rectangular frame contains 30 seals with floral decoration. The niche itself sits in the cove of the inner frame with a rectangular shape above it baring inscriptions in two triangles and three plates of glazed Chinese pottery in the centre. (islamicart.museumwnf.org).

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