Kabaa covered with new Kiswa worth 22 million riyals

MECCA - 31 Aug 2017: The holy Kabaa is covered with a new gold-laced Kiswa (cover) on Thursday, a tradition that takes place on Dul Hijjah 9 every year, Saudi Press Agency reported.

Officials from the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs took down the old kiswa to replace it with the new one, which is made from pure silk at Makkah’s Kiswa Factory.

The new kiswa hung over the old one from the top and then the old one is removed from underneath.

Until 1927, Egypt used to manufacture the kiswa and sent it in a huge annual parade before the hajj season. But this tradition stopped after late Saudi King Abdel Aziz bin Saud ordered the establishment of a factory to manufacture the Kiswa.

The Kiswa consists of black silk with self embroidered calligraphies, and strips of embroidered in the lower part of the top quarter of the walls.

It is made with 700 kg of pure silk, and 120 kg of gold and silver thread that is used for sewing the Quranic verses.

It is 658 square meters in size and consists of 47 pieces, each 14 meters long and 95 cm wide.

Made by 86 craftsmen, the Kiswa costs about 22 million Saudi riyals.