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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the physical context of the necropolis of Bat, look at its management by the Omani Ministry of Heritage and Culture (MHC), and discusse the challenges it is facing. It will also shed light on how the site of Bat is perceived by the local community and visitors. Design/methodology/approach The archaeological complex of Bat, al-Khutm, and al-Ayn was listed by the UNESCO as a world heritage site in 1988. Despite this classification, relatively little attention has been given to the management of this site. The author conducted interviews with representatives of the MHC in order to understand how this site is being managed, and the author uploaded an online public questionnaire to learn how the population is being educated about the importance of this heritage. Findings The results of this investigation revealed a surprisingly high level of public awareness about the importance of this site to the country socially, and economically. In spite of this awareness, the site is not visited frequently because it is not adequately equipped: a situation that was clearly outlined by the respondents. Suggestions were proposed in order to better integrate this site into the local development plans and the socio-economic growth of the whole region. Originality/value The originality of this research is that it took the site of investigation an archaeological site listed by the UNESCO for its outstanding universal value and contrary to what is expected, this site was “forgotten” in all development and management plans executed by the local and central government for almost two decades. It is also the first research about a site in Oman to address such issues and use these methods.

Once abandoned for more than three decades, vernacular settlements in Oman are now being progressively reinvested in to foster the country’s heritage tourism sector. The present research focuses on the emerging phenomenon of community-led initiatives for vernacular heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Oman. Through an examination of three case studies, its aim is to describe this process and its modes of action and discuss its effects on vernacular settlement transformations. A mixed research methodology was designed to include (A) analyses of relevant primary and secondary data, (B) documented onsite observations, (C) interviews with local community representatives and key players in the operations of rehabilitation, and (D) extractions and analyses of quantitative data from a hotel booking website. The research sheds light on unsuspected interrelations within and between the projects being implemented in these settlements and their operating modes. It reveals the focal role of a local community in a kind of ‘bottom-up’ management of its built heritage, coupled with a ‘horizontal cooperation’ between the three initiatives studied in this research. Moreover, it shows that a heavily centralised and top-down policy for the field of heritage conservation and management is among the main obstacles that hinder such initiatives. Furthermore, community-led operations of vernacular heritage rehabilitation are being undertaken under insufficient regulations in terms of land use, building restoration and adaptive reuse. In this context, the paper discusses some of the serious threats and concerns faced by such initiatives and proposes actionable solutions to mitigate these hindrances.

Notre recherche s'intéresse au patrimoine architectural produit par la communauté Ibadite au M'Zab, à Djerba et en Oman. Plus précisément, nous nous interrogeons sur les rapports pouvant exister entre les principales caractéristiques des mosquées de ces trois régions et la jurisprudence Ibadite traitant le domaine de l’architecture " `Imâra " et de l’urbanisme " `Umrân ". Nous avons procédé au relevé, à la description et à l'analyse d’un nombre représentatif de sanctuaires dans les trois terrains considérés. Une approche historique de l'Ibadisme et de ses fondements, en plus d’une recherche exploratoire dans le domaine du droit religieux relatif à la construction et à la gestion de la mosquée, ont permis de constituer le corpus juridique nécessaire pour notre analyse. Enfin, cette recherche a tenté d'esquisser une première Image de ce que peut être une " Mosquée Ibadite " et mettre en valeur le rôle qu'a pu jouer le Fiqh dans la constitution de cette architecture religieuse, tout en ne manquant pas de souligner les distorsions et les dépassements dont témoignent les monuments étudiés par rapport aux principes fixés par les savants religieux. Our Research is about the built Heritage realised by the Ibadites in the M'Zab, Djerba and Oman. More precisely, our interrogations concern the relations that may exist between the typical aspect of the mosques in these three regions and the Ibadi Jurisprudence dealing with architecture "`Imâra" and urban planning "`Umrân". We investigated the architecture as well as the Fiqh works of the Ibadi community. We proceeded to the description of a representative number of mosques in the three regions in question. A historical approach of Ibadism and an exploratory research in the field of Ibadi religious laws, related to the construction and the management of mosques, had been undertaken in order to build up the necessary corpus to our analysis. At last, this research made possible a first "image" of what could be the architecture of an "Ibadi mosque", without ignoring the differences and the overtaking which characterize each region.

Despite its richness, the research corpus published about Islamic architecture presents some discontinuities in the knowledge of the architecture in the lands ruled by Muslims. Similarly, the dynamics of influence that might have operated between the "monumental" architecture in these lands and their popular architectures are insufficiently addressed. Moreover, the material culture related to the Islamic civilization is almost exclusively studied as a product that has stopped evolving. The architecture produced during Al-Ya'ariba (Al- Ya'rubi) Imamate (1624-1749) is an instance of these understudied topics in the history of Islamic architecture. This research argues that Al-Ya'rubi Imamate is not only an important chapter in the history of Oman, the Arabian Peninsula, Indian Ocean, and Eastern Africa, but also the architecture of this period has created the identity of Omani architecture as we know it today. Nonetheless, there is no architectural production in this era both in the major references and scientific publications of Islamic architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. Through field research, comparative analysis, and literature review of the history of Omani architecture, especially in the 17th -18th centuries, this research examines the military architecture in Oman during Al-Ya'ariba Imamate including its reference, and its influence on other architectures. It is a contribution to the scientific endeavour to address this specific architectural typology from the perspective of its mechanism of (trans) formation and its continuity of forms until the contemporary architecture of Oman.

In spite of a long-standing interest in the Ibadi community and its historical, social, religious and architectural legacy, its Ibadi scholarly literature remains largely unknown. The present research continues in the footsteps of the pioneering works of Joseph Schacht (Schacht, 1954) and Pierre Cuperly (Cuperly, 1988) on Ibadism. It aims to cast light on the Ibadi literature that represents an authentic source of information for the study of Ibadism past and present. This article analyzes an Ibadi manuscript from the twelfth century written by the scholar Abul’Abbas Ahmad. This document has been the primary reference for the most important sources of Ibadi legislation still in use by the community in its three main centers: M’zab, Djerba and Oman. The study of this document, along with other Ibadi scholarly literature on this topic, shows that this jurisprudence has regulated in detail the design, construction and management of mosques, and that this level of careful attention was due to the importance of the mosque for the instruction and organization of the community.

Oman’s built heritage needs a modern, repeatable way to document complex sites and make conservation decisions based on evidence rather than intuition. This pioneering study demonstrates a complete, end-to-end Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) workflow on the Bibi Maryam Mausoleum (Qalhat) and shows how the same method can scale nationally. The research integrates four strands: (1) literature synthesis on documentation in hot- arid contexts; (2) stakeholder engagement through surveys and expert interviews; (3) multi-sensor field capture— terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), UAV photogrammetry, close-range imaging, and selective manual measurements; and (4) a semantic, parametric HBIM at roughly LoD 300, encoding geometry, construction systems, materials (including lime–sarooj plasters and stucco layers), chronology, and pathologies within a single, queryable model. Implemented in a Revit-based environment, the workflow privileges interoperability (IFC/CSV) and living records over one-off drawings, enabling multi-party updates without model corruption. Results show that compared with mesh-only outputs, HBIM delivers greater adaptability, semantic depth, and life-cycle updatability. It supports diagnosis, risk mapping, and option evaluation (from minimal intervention to compatible repair) while reducing duplication of effort across agencies. The pipeline translates directly into policy actions: defining national HBIM standards (LoD/ LOI/metadata and QA/QC), assigning custodianship, and training teams to extend the method to forts, harāt, and urban ensembles. Crucially, the model accommodates intangible heritage, oral testimonies and craft knowledge, anchoring conservation in the memory of making. In short, this case proves HBIM is feasible and scalable under Omani conditions, offering a template to standardize workflows, de-risk conservation spending, and build a national digital heritage backbone.