While its palatial homes and arabesque designs showcased the prosperity of Oman’s wealthiest merchants, the permanent closure of the Sur’s two wooden gates made it a separate world from the clamour of the souk adjacent to it. No one knows why the walled quarter was closed for so long. Some researchers suggest that, being a small Shiite community, the Lawatis preferred to seclude themselves, like their coreligionists in Najaf and Karbala. Others offer a far more practical reason: that it was to allow their women to move in their neighbourhood unveiled.