Standing above the coast north of Sur, the Bibi Maryam Mausoleum is the most recognisable monument in the ruined port of Qalhat. Its broken dome and weathered walls are not an isolated romantic ruin: they belong to a medieval city that connected Oman with ports around the Indian Ocean. Merchants, diplomats and travellers once encountered Qalhat as an important partner of the kingdom of Hormuz, exchanging goods and ideas between Arabia, Persia, India and East Africa.
Official Omani tourism information dates the monument to the early fourteenth century and connects it with Bibi Maryam and her husband, Baha al-Din Ayaz, a ruler of Hormuz and governor of Qalhat. Sources differ over whether she commissioned it for him, whether both were buried there and even whether “mausoleum” fully describes its original function. Those uncertainties should remain visible. What survives securely is an exceptional cube-shaped building once crowned by a dome, constructed from coral and limestone, coated with stucco and ornamented with blue glazed tiles.