Photograph of the Sitarah and Hizam of the Ka'bah of 1916

Following the onslaught of the First World War, and fearing that Egypt may not be able to send the customary kiswah for the Ka'bah, one was made in Istanbul and sent to Mecca in 1916. The sitarah and the eight panels that from the hizam are shown here displayed in the workshop where they were embroidered. Both bear the name of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed Reshad the Fifth.