KNZ NEWS DESK
Makkah: Muslims all over the world watched on Thursday the annual customary ceremony of replacing kiswa (cover) of the Holy Kaaba with a new one, SPA reported.
A total of 86 staffers from the Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques and King Abdulaziz Kiswa Factory took off the old Kiswa and installed the new one, which is made of pure silk and gold threads. Islam’s holiest shrine was adorned with the new cover at a time when around two million pilgrims converged on the nearby vast plains of Arafat in the climax of Haj.
The Kaaba cover is made of natural silk, dyed in black, with a height 14 meters and length 47 meters. The kiswa, which is considered one of the most exquisite works of Islamic art, is made of five pieces. The fifth piece the curtain of its door. Around 700 kilograms of natural silk was required to make the kiswa.
The sewing of the Kiswa takes eight months, and passes through several stages, most prominent of which is the coloring of the silk, its spinning and weaving, and the embroidery and aggregation stage.
The Kaaba cover is manufactured at King Abdulaziz Complex for Holy Kaaba Kiswa, which employs more 200 Saudi employees who are qualified and trained in this distinctive industry, in Umm Al-Joud in Makkah.
Courtesy IINA
