Qalhāt (Arabic: قلهات) is a village in Oman, located more than 20 kilometers to the north of Sur. The area where people live is to the northwest of Wādī Ḥilm (Arabic: وادي حلم), and the ruins of the ancient city are found to the southeast. The ancient city was called Calatu by Marco Polo and named Calha on the map created by Abraham Ortelius.

Site description

Marco Polo visited Qalhat in the 13th century and called it Calatu. Ibn Battuta visited the city in the 14th century and described it as having "good markets and one of the most beautiful mosques." He also noted that the mosque was built by Bibi Maryam and included walls made of qashani. After her husband Ayaz died in 1311 or 1312, Bibi Maryam continued to rule Qalhat and Hurmuz. Zheng He visited the city in the 15th century, and his crew called it 加剌哈 (Taihu Wu: ka-la-ha; Hokkien: ka-lat-ha; Cantonese: gaa-laat-haa).

Qalhat was an important stop in the Indian Ocean trade network and was the second city of the Kingdom of Ormus. By 1507, when the Portuguese Empire captured the city under Afonso de Albuquerque, Qalhat was already in decline because trade had moved to Muscat. The city covered more than 60 acres (240,000 m²) and was surrounded by walls that protected homes and shops. Very little of the ancient city remains today, except for the now dome-less mausoleum of Bibi Maryam. Artifacts from places as far as Persia and China have been found at the site.

A recent study by geoarchaeologists from the University of Bonn suggests that earthquake activity along the Qalhat Fault may have caused the city's decline.

World Heritage Site

This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 4, 1988, in the Cultural category. It became a World Heritage Site in 2018.