Kaaba, Saudi Arabia

The Kaaba is the main Muslim shrine, which during hadj, gathers pilgrims all over the world. The Kaaba is an unusual and very harmonious temple of a cubic form, the walls of the temple are painted in black and adorned with elaborate painting with gilding. The height of the main Islamic shrine is 13.1 meters. For Muslims Kaaba is a kind of reference point, it is just the side, to which they turn their eyes every day during prayer. Until now, the exact date of the construction of the temple, as well as its founder, is for certain unknown.

At the beginning of the 7th century, the Kaaba underwent the first major reconstruction, each year the number of pilgrims became larger, so the area around the church gradually expanded. The shrine repeatedly suffered from floods and fires, after which its complete restructuring was required. According to some reports, during the time of its existence, the church was completely rebuilt 12 times. The Kaaba is one of the most inaccessible Islamic shrines, only a limited number of high-ranking representatives of religious communities can enter the temple.

For ordinary believers a huge area was equipped around the temple. On certain days they can come as close as possible to the temple and touch its walls. For adherents of other religious currents, the shrine is inaccessible. The area of free space around the temple today is about 193,000 square meters, at a time up to 400 000 people can accommodate in this area. In the period of the major religious holidays, hundreds of accidents are always registered on the square because of a huge number of parishioners. Next - Islamic Art Museum