Forts and Cannon of Oman.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by fernando

Most impressive; i wish i could visit it !
Visible are modifications carried out through time, as in many or all fortifications everywhere.
It is comforting to know that your nation cares to perserve its historic assets; i see that plenty Omani forts are or were restored ... something not so intense over here, i guess. Naturaly you need funds to go ahead with these works, which are not at all that cheap.
I take it that those two cannons are not wearing a 'raincoat' to prevent them to catch a cold but a 'dustcoat' to save them from the dirt caused by the restoring works.
This is not the first time you mention that this is the place where cannons were first fired in Oman (1616). Am i missing something in the approach? Do you mean cannons first fired by Omani or first fired at all ? Wasn't Portuguese artillery used all through the 16th. century ?
Amazing and somehow off topic is the brick pavement on the walkway, like where the cannons are standing; same as used here in many places, like in my own residence park, for one. Could they have been imported from here ?

Well spotted on the new pavements! Where does the modern world begin and the old one end?
In terms of the 1616 reference I deliberately go no further than that since I have not seen any documentation of who was firing at who? Nor do I know of the outcome...For now just a strange date....1616. I assume that refers to cannon fired by Omani gunners from the shore instalation at Sohar.
So far as the dustcoats are concerned ....no idea.
Do cannon suffer from dust? Maybe some acidic reaction or when they were removing the thick coat of whitewash...It may simply be standard proceedure as there is a team of retorers I believe from Morocco working on the entire system presumeably Fort by Fort.


I will discover more as I move around the Forts.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

...It may simply be standard procedure as there is a team of restorers ...

I see it as the one and only reason. You are not going to mess with ancient patina by allowing the fall of inopportune paint drops and all kinds of dirt and then having to rub here and there with whatever necessary means to remove their presence.