Gated communities

The city gates remained resolutely locked and bolted against the outside world until 1970. Then Sultan Qaboos had a hole driven through the walls so that he and his citizens could drive their newly acquire Land Rovers and Rollers into town.
All sorts of stuff flowed in, and Muscat spilled out along the adjacent coast.
For many years the city gates continued to be locked on time every evening, despite the hole in the wall, until the gates were replaced with the archway seen today. Regrettably the ceremony was discontinued, unlike that famous one in the Tower of London, "The Keys".
Another gate is known as the Rose Garden owing to the cascade of plants down its flank. Other than that it has and never had any purpose that I could discover.Read more