Saudi Arabia will spend $3.6 million renovating the door of the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Islam’s holiest site, local media have reported.
The Kaaba is a sacred cubic box inside the Mosque where Muslim pilgrims commonly repent their sins.
Made from heavy gold, it is more than 3 metres high and features 15 of the 99 names of Allah embroidered in gold and silver Thuluth (an Arabic calligraphy style), according to the Makkah Daily.
At the centre, Quranic verses, Islamic phrases and historical annotations are inscribed; even the door’s lock is embroidered. Only the best and most prestigious designers and calligraphers have worked on the Kaaba door.
According to the report, the Kaaba door was first renovated during the reign of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, in 1944. Its second renovation was during the reigns of King Khalid and King Fahd.
In 1977, King Khalid noticed scratches at the bottom of the door while he was praying inside the Grand Mosque and immediately ordered for the door to be remade and for a Tobah (which means repentance) door to be installed inside the Kaaba and coated with gold.
The kingdom is spending more than $20 billion renovating and expanding the site so it can accommodate two million pilgrims at one time.
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