The Exhibition of the Two Holy Mosques Architecture is in a tranquil setting nestled amid hills in Makkah's quiet Umm Al-Jude area, not far from the Kiswa factory.

 

 It is situated at old makkah madina highway towards hudaybia. Private taxis may carry you to this place . you may see this exhibition and kiswa house where drapery of kaabah is weaved and point of hudabiyya where the treaty of hudaybiya and bait-ur-rizwan was taken place. Taxi drivers take 50 to 75 riyal for this trip.

 

It holds a magnificent array of items that were part of the two Holy Harams in Makkah and Madinah at one time, dating as far back as the 10th century Hijira.

 

Some of the main pieces are the doors of the Ka'aba and the Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah, which have been replaced during renovations and enhancements over  the centuries.

According to Ibn Hisham, who quotes Ibn Ishaq Al-Matlabi, the first person to make a door for the Ka'aba was the Yemeni king, Tubba' the Third, who ruled long before the birth of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). A similar story is also told by Al-Azraqui in 'Tariekh Al Ka 'aba Muazzama'. The same book notes that when the Quraish were maintaining the Ka'aba they made a door 11 cubits high with two shutters. (A cubit is an old measurement equivalent to 40 centimetres). Ibn Al-Zubair also did the same. Al-Hajjaj made a shorter door measuring six cubits and a span because he raised the door from the ground.

Two Ka'aba doors were made during Saudi rule. The first one was at the time of King Abdulaziz's rule in 1363H (1944). It was made of aluminium, buttressed by iron bars and was 2.5 centimetres thick and 3.1 metres high. The front side of the door was covered with silver sheets and coated with gold, and decorated with inscriptions of Allah's attributes.

While King Khalid bin Abdulaziz was praying in the Ka'aba in 1393H, he saw some scratches on the door and issued a directive to make the second door, the Bab Al-Tawba, from pure gold. Bab Al-Tawba is at the northern side of the Ka'aba, and through it one can get to the rooftop. The new door is made from the same wood usually used for making the Ka'aba door.

\
\Circle in mutaf shows exact location of zamzam burst out..This  circle no more in mutaf but
 museum has its' picture even today 

 

 

The two doors cost SR 13,420 million, in addition to the 280 kilograms of 99.9 per cent pure gold supplied by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. The work began in 1398H and was finished within a year. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, who was then Crown Prince, took a keen interest in the project, ensuring that it was finished perfectly, and ahead of time.

The Ka'aba door is more than 3 metres high, nearly 2 metres wide and about half a metre in depth. It has two shutters. The body of the door is 10 centimetres thick and is made from a certain kind of teak wood called makamong. A special steel frame was made to facilitate the process of mounting the door in place. The door hinges, equipped with small wheels to facilitate movement, were fitted to the frame, which is strong enough to bear 500 kilograms. The door also has a new lock. It replaces the one made by Sultan Abdul Hameed, but has the same specifation of pld one

.

Old ladder of holy kabbah 

 

 

                                        

                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old ladder of kabbah

 

old door of kabbah

 

old keies of kabbah

 

 
   

Historical items displayed at the exhibition include:

 

§   The door of the Holy Ka'aba from 1363H, made on the orders of King Abdulaziz Al- Saud

§   The door of the Holy Ka'aba from 1045H, made in the era of Sultan Murad Khan

§   A copper door of the Holy Mosque dating back to the first Saudi expansion

§   A wooden door of the Holy Mosque dating back to the early years of the 10th century Hijira

   One of the doors of the

Prophet's Mosque from the reign of King Abdulaziz Al-Saud

§   A copper leaf-plated door of the pulpit of Sultan Sulaiman bin Salim Khan in the Holy Mosque, which he ordered to be made in 966H

§   A copper pillar which used to be one of the pillars around the mataf.  This is from the first Saudi expansion of the Holy Mosque

§   A marble arch façade of one of the doors to the Holy Mosque from 984H

§   Lock and key of the Holy Ka'aba 1309H, made during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II

§   The door of the Ottoman pulpit in the Prophet's Mosque which was made at the order of Sultan Murad III in 998H

§   An inscription on marble marking the date of the construction of the door and the parts of the Holy Mosque that were damaged by fire during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Faraj in 804H

Another old kabbah door

 

Old zam zam well casing and a dragger with pully

 

  Established in 1999 by Prince Abdul Majeed, Governor of Makkah, the project cost more than SR 15 million. The exhibition also contains some photographs - a gift from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General. Many of the items on show are from the various expansions, renovations, and changes that have taken place over the centuries. These have been collected, classified, and restored by Bin Humaid, General Manager of the project
.

The exhibition is divided into seven sections. As one enters the exhibition, on the left is the model of the Holy Mosque in Makkah and huge photographs of the Makkah and Madinah Harams on the walls. Just a few feet away is an imposing masterpiece - the teak staircase of the Holy Ka'aba, manufactured in 1240H. In a photograph of the time when it was in use, it can be glimpsed behind the ZamZam building. Just a few steps to the right from the staircase is the oldest piece in the exhibition - the brass head of the pulpit made in the era of Sultan Sulaiman Al- Qanoony.

Also on exhibit are one of the pillars of the Holy Ka'aba with its wooden base and crown dating back to the construction by Abdullah Ibn Al-Zubair in 65H, a rock base that was holding the pillar, a brass crescent from 1299H, the crescent of the main minaret of the Prophet's Mosque from the early 10th century Hijira, and a copper fence which used to be on one of the windows of the Prophet's Mosque, dating back to the Saudi Era.

The library section of the Makkah and Madinah mosques has some rare Qur'an copies and manuscripts.

The Madinah Mosque section comprises the model of the Madinah Haram and depicts extensions in different periods.

In the ZamZam section are displayed the old railings of the ZamZam well with a brass bucket from 1299H, which was used to draw water, and a pulley from the end of the 14th century Hijira. In 1975, during King Faisal's era, the old buildings housing the ZamZam well were pulled down to widen the area around the Ka'aba. The work was completed in a year.

Other pieces in the exhibition include: the case which was used to cover the Maqaam-e-lbrahim before its replacement in the reign of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and two brass crescents of a minaret of the Holy Mosque from 1299H.

A beautiful and intricately carved gypsum window of the Prophet's Mosque from the first Saudi extension has been imaginatively exhibited with a photograph below showing it tilted.

There are also many inscriptions on stone recording the contributions of the Mamluk Sultan Abu Sa'iid Jaqmaq 852H, a marble slab on which is engraved the name of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III 983H, and the rain gutter of the Holy Ka'aba made of wood and plated with gold on the outside, and covered with lead inside.

The Museum is a neat, well organised place, and one can happily spend many hours there, browsing through the exhibits. In keeping with the care and concern exhibited by early caliphs, the late King Abdulaziz, who established the modern Saudi state, devoted his attention to the care of the Two Holy Mosques and the well-being of  pilgrims. He ordered the expansions of the Two Holy Mosques and new facilities and services. This has been continued by his successors keeping in mind the needs of the time.

In 1988 the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, laid the foundation for the third Saudi expansion of the Mosque in Makkah. Three years earlier, an equally ambitious expansion plan had been launched for the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. Both can now accommodate more than one million pilgrims each. A notable feature of both projects is that all the expansions have been done in a way  that will permit future expansion work to be carried out, without disturbing the architecture, style or look.

The exhibition is open from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm and 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm except on Thursdays and Fridays. During Haj season it is open all week.