Ka‘bah door curtain

The Ka`ba, a cubic stone structure with a flat roof, stands at the centre of the courtyard of the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the holiest site in Islam and is the direction of the qibla, the point toward which Muslims turn when they pray, wherever they are in the world.  Each year, the Ka`ba is supplied with a new kiswa (external covering), a tradition that dates back centuries.  Since 1261, the textiles for the kiswa have been made in a special factory in Cairo, the Mamluk capital. Over time, this tradition expanded to include a decorated curtain or sitara to cover and accentuate the doorway area. The main part of the kiswa continued to be made in Cairo until the twentieth century.  The great ceremonies and processions that accompanied the kiswa’s annual departure for Mecca were often recorded by visitors to Cairo.

The general design of the sitara has remained consistent, though some details and materials have changed.  This particular example is especially extravagant with its use of silver-gilt wire as a ground in many areas.  Qur’anic verses for the main decorative feature.  Some elements of the deisgn, such as the two radial inscriptions in the roundels on orange ground, still recall Mamluk styles. When the kiswah was replaced at the end of a year, the used textiles were usually sent to Istanbul. Some of them were cut into smaller pieces and given as gifts to dignitaries, but the largest collection of kiswa textiles today can now be found in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.  

The commissioning information can be found  in the roundel on the green ground that is just above the pointed lower split that once concealed the doorway into the Kaaba.  The inscription bears the name of the sultan at the time, Mahmud Khan, son of Sultan Abduhamid Khan, and the date 1225, which equates to 1810-1811 in the Common Era.