Tawila Tanks

The Tawila Tanks were generally known as "The Tanks" although when we visited them with our friends and their children we were told that they may have been constructed on the orders of the Queen of Sheba to provide a source of water for her armies and they became known as "The Queen of Sheba Tanks" to many locals. Some sources refer to them as "Solomon's Tanks" or "The Cisterns".

As can be seen from the photographs presented here they represented a quite extraordinary feat of engineering. Whilst little accurate information is available on their true history they are mentioned in the Al-Musnad inscriptions.

Built in a cleft in the volcanic rock, which surrounds the city of Crater, the system of tanks and waterways feeding them were cleverly designed to collect and store rainfall. Originally there were 53 tanks in total all excavated out of the volcanic rock and plastered with a stucco type finish similar to crushed marble, but only 13 remain.

Whilst the plaque in the wall of the lower waterworks indicate that the tanks were accidentally discovered by Lieutenant Robert Lambert Playfair in 1854 other sources state that Commander Haines was aware of them in 1835.

These photographs were taken and processed in March 1963.

The plaque in the wall at the lower "Coghlan" tank.

Our friends Stan & Marie Symons and their four daughters on a day's outing to the tanks.

(Arab lads always loved to be included in the photo shoots!)

View of the tiered tanks and the interconnecting water courses.

Another view of the interconnecting water courses.

Looking down into one of the tanks with some stagnant water still in it.

Steps set into the rock along one of the fissures that drained into the tanks.

A good view of a lower tank showing the extent of the engineering involved in the construction.

A view down toward the city of Crater.

A large fissure in the surrounding rock eroded by the flow of rain water over many years.

One of the large lower tanks, possibly the Coghlan tank.

Another large fissure in the rocks which would have been a main feeder for the tanks.

One of the high tanks looking toward Jebal Shamsan.

Another view of the larger lower tanks.

A view up toward the top tanks.

All of the tanks were connected by pedestrian walkways and stairways.

The "Tawila Gardens" at the entrance to the tanks.