Mecca: The Kaaba is considered the ‘House of God’ and most sacred Muslim site in the world and it is a symbol that connects all Muslims together.
Until a few years ago, the Kaaba opened twice a week for anyone to enter and pray. However, due to the rapid increase in the number of pilgrims and other factors, the Kaaba is now opened only twice a year for dignitaries and exclusive guests only.
Whoever visits the Kaaba in Mecca, clicking some photos of the holy site is a must to make their visit memorable. This is not something new.
Visitors in the past centuries also clicked photos during their visit to the Kaaba and from those photos only we can see the enormous change the holiest site has undergone.
The Kaaba is a building at the centre of Islam's most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca, al-Hejaz, Saudi Arabia.
More than a billion people face the Kaaba five times a day while performing prayers.
One of the ‘Five Pillars of Islam’ requires every Muslim (unless they don’t have the means or are sick) to perform the Haj pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
Millions of pilgrims gather in Mecca every year to perform the Haj pilgrimage.
According to Islamic belief, God ordained a place of worship on earth to reflect a house in heaven.
We have compiled here some very rare photos of the holiest site of Islam, some pictures even date back to previous centuries.
Click next to see the rarely seen photos of the Kaaba
(Image credit: Flickr@oboudi)
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