Kaaba gets new Kiswa, draped with 120kg of gold threads

RIYADH - 20 August 2018: The holy cubic-shaped Kabaa is dressed in its new gold-laced Kiswa (cover) after Fajr prayer on Monday, a tradition that takes place on the 9th day of Dul Hijjah every year, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Officials from the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs took down the old kiswa to embroider it with the new one, which is made from pure silk at Mecca’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 Al Saud ordered the establishment of a factory to manufacture the Kiswa.

Made by 160 craftsmen, 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 670 kg of pure silk, and 120 kg of gold and 100 kg of silver thread that is used for sewing the Quranic verses.