Cultural Affairs

The centre is mandated with cultural aspects, raising cultural awareness and taking care of cultural affairs through:

Conducting Cultural Activities and Events

Throughout the year, a number of cultural activities and events are conducted through an annual plan which contains a slew of symposiums, conferences, lectures, seminars, competitions, discussion panels and more others.

Managing Sultan Qaboos Competition for Holy Qur’an

The competition was established by the royal interest of His Majesty to the necessity of memorizing and reciting the Holy Qur'an, exploring and interpreting its meanings, and implementing its provisions. It is an annual competition allocated for Omanis, and it commenced its first turn in Ramadhan in 1413 Hijri/1992.

The competition consists of several levels, designed for different age groups and it is implemented in the competition centres across all the governorates, while the final qualifications are held in the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.

Managing Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature

The award was established by the Royal Decree No (18/ 2011) issued on 27 February 2011, stemming from the attention to the encouragement of intellectual and knowledge achievement; reinforcing the cultural awareness, and supporting well-accomplished intellectuals, artists and literati from the Sultanate of Oman and abroad.

This annual award celebrates the Arab intellectual achievement on the local and regional fronts and it echoes the Omani continuous contribution to the human civilized development.

The award is honored, alternately, every two years. While it is honored in one year, as Recognition Award, to celebrate an intellectual achievement for either an Omani or an Arab intellectual (open for competition between Omanis and Arabs), it is allocated in the other year for Omanis only.

The award is honored in three sub-fields of culture, arts and literature. In each turn, one sub-field is selected and announced; thus, the award cerebrates a total of three winners of intellectuals, artists and literati where one winner is announced for each field.

Each winner is awarded the following:

Arab Turn: Sultan Qaboos Order for Culture, Sciences, Arts and Literature; and an amount of one hundred thousand Omani Riyals.

Local Turn: Merit Order for Culture, Sciences, Arts and Literature, and fifty-thousand Omani Riyals.

Managing and Running some Libraries

The centre oversees a number of libraries representing knowledge-based and cultural hubs; some of which are the following:

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque Library

Sultan Qaboos Mosque Library in the Wilayat of Sohar

Sultan Qaboos Mosque Library in the Wilayat of Salalah

Sultan Qaboos Mosque Library in the Wilayat of Nizwa

Sayyid Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Busaidi Library

Public Knowledge Library

Publication of “A’ Thaqafiyah” Magazine

It is a quarterly-issued magazine by the center, discussing a variety of topics concerned with history, culture, literature, arts, studies and research related to the aforementioned fields.

The magazine, since it has been issued in February 2009, attracts a slew of writers, intellectuals, artists and researchers having different nationalities, cultural and intellectual backgrounds.