Early on Saturday morning, the process of replacing the Kaaba cladding with a new cladding costing about SR 20 million began and was manufactured by 160 technicians and manufacturers, running on the habit of the General Presidency of the Holy Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque on this day of each year.
The Undersecretary-General of the Holy Mosque Affairs Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Mansouri said in a statement that "today the old cladding of the Kaaba was lowered, and the new clad, consisting of four sides and curtain door."
He explained that the cladding consumes about 670 kilograms of raw silk, which is dyed inside the complex in black, and 120 kilograms of gold wire and 100 kilograms of silver wire.
The cladding from the outside is woven with black weaving (jacquard), with the words: "O Allah, O Allah", "La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasulullah", "Hallelujah and praise", "Hallelujah the Great" and "O Dayan" O Manan, "they are repeated on all the cladding pieces.
The history of the Kaaba's clothing dates back to pre-Islam, and this tradition continued over the various Islamic periods.Egypt was sending the cladding to Mecca for centuries except for simple periods of time, and stopped sending the cladding permanently in 1962.It has since been made in Saudi Arabia. The current cladding factory in Mecca in 1977.
The cost of the Kaaba cost between 20 and 25 million riyals, and the cost changes from year to year because it is subject to currency prices, and cut the old cladding into small pieces and distributed to prominent figures and religious organizations, and these pieces are precious heritage.
Hajj pilgrims have the vision of the Kaaba with two rations: the first when they arrive in Mecca before the eighth of Dhul Hijjah to perform the rituals of Hajj; Pilgrims stand in Arafah.