Kiswa, the Kaaba cover called as, is 14 meters high, to match the height of the Kaaba, and 47 meters wide, enough to cover the four sides, which are not identical in dimension
Makkah: The Holy Kaaba was adorned with a new cover (kiswa) on Friday. Officials from the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques took off the old Kiswa and installed the new one, which is made of pure silk and gold threads.
As an annual custom, the new black cloth was placed on top of the Kaaba, at the center of the Grand Mosque, as some two million pilgrims converged on nearby Mount Arafat in the climax of pilgrimage.
It costs more than SR20 million and is considered one of the most exquisite works of Islamic art. The Kiswa is 14 meters (42 feet) high, to match the height of the Kaaba, and 47 meters (141 feet) wide, enough to cover the four sides of the Kaaba, which are not identical in dimension.
Its upper half is decorated with a 95-centimeter (three-foot) wide strip featuring verses from the Holy Qur'an, inscribed in gold plated silver thread, which weigh 120 kilograms (264 pounds). The Kiswa is made of five pieces.
The fifth piece the curtain of its door.
Nearly 650 kilograms (1,400 pounds) of natural silk was required to make the Kiswa.
The silk is imported, but the Kiswa was designed and tailored by more than 200 Saudi employees at a special factory set up by the Kingdom some 30 years ago.
Comments
| Quick linksNews
National
International
Regional
Politics
Education & Career
Business
Science & Technology
Health
Views & Analysis
The Funny Side
© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.
The US based Sikh Foundation for Justice (SFJ) in coordination with the American Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (AGPC), Tuesday held a Citizens' Court in Lafayette Park, a small park infront of the White House to indict PM Narendra Modi for the human rights violations in 2002 in Gujarat.. .... More
Also Read: Americans join as Kashmiris, Sikhs hold protest against Modi
"As nations, we've partnered over the decades to deliver progress to our people... Still, the true potential of our relationship has yet to be fully realised," they said in a joint op-ed piece published on. .... More
Also Read: Americans join as Kashmiris, Sikhs hold protest against Modi
Irrespective of the fact that in such a propaganda few cases of marriage-conversion, the girls changing their version the boundary line between love and imposition being regularly breached, have been picked up as an example of Muslim men on a path to Jihad for conversion to Islam.... More
After rotating the Orbiter towards Mars, the main engine will be fired 24 minutes from Mars to enter the Martian orbit, which will be about 500 km from its surface and 215 million km away from the. .... More
Also Read: India will explore Mars for life-sustaining elements