The Royal Opera House in Muscat, which is the first opera house in the Arabian Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula, where Sultan Qaboos of the Sultanate of Oman ordered its construction in 2001. Construction work for the building began in 2007 and opened in 2011. The Royal Opera House is a multi-use building, which can host various events such as operas, concerts and plays, in addition to conferences and many cultural and artistic forums. Reflecting contemporary Omani architecture, the Opera House has the capacity to accommodate a maximum of 1,100 people. The Opera House complex consists of a concert theatre, an auditorium and formal gardens, a cultural market with retail and luxury restaurants, and an art center for musical, theatrical and opera productions. The Opera House is considered a masterpiece. Architecturally, it was built in 8 floors, 3 of which are located underground and 5 are located above it. The opera building extends from the north of the site to its south, and the building is interrupted by two arcades of columns extending on its eastern and western sides, in which the Omani, Arab and Islamic architectural heritage in different eras are in harmony. The opera house was built on a vast area of eighty thousand square meters, and the built-up area is more than twenty-five thousand square meters.