The Kaaba is a cubic-shaped construction located in the center of the courtyard of the Great Mosque. It is covered by the Kiswa, which is a black silk cloth with gold-embroidered calligraphy of the Muslim profession of faith and Koranic verses. Inside it is the Black Stone, which plays a central role in the pilgrimage. The Kaba also defines the Qibla, which is the direction towards which the prayer must be made, from any point in the world.

The large courtyard houses three more sacred sites; the Maqam-e-Ibrahim, a stone with roots in Islamic tradition and history that contains the footprints of Abraham's feet; the oasis of Zamzam, a spring of holy water that has never dried up since it was revealed; and al-Safa and al-Marwah, two small hills that are also part of the Muslim pilgrimage ritual.

The religious building, whose oldest remains in its current configuration date from the 16th century, had its beginnings, according to Islamic tradition, during the era of Abraham and Ishmael, and are related to the construction of the Kaaba sanctuary. Until the arrival of Muhammad and his spread of Islam, the Kaaba was a center of worship for the various pre-Islamic polytheistic Bedouin tribes throughout the Arabian Peninsula, a fact that would also be adopted by the new faith. A rectangular courtyard in the center surrounded by covered prayer areas and a terrace is the structure of the mosque, whose current capacity, after the gradual reforms it has received, is up to four million people.

During the Umayyad era, at the end of the 7th century, the outer walls of the mosque were closed, initially being an open space without delimitation around the Kaaba. Its formation and expansion, including marble columns and minarets, coincides with the spread of Islam in the Middle East. Starting in the 16th century, under the Ottoman Empire, the sacred mosque gradually increased the complexity of its structure and its ornamental richness, until, already in the 20th century and under the control of the Saudi monarchy, its successive extensions gave it its current majestic shape.

To accommodate the large concentration of faithful during the pilgrimages, in the surroundings of the Great Mosque there is a large number of accommodations, highlighting among them the Abraj Al Bait Towers, a hotel complex whose building stands out for being, until the construction of the Jeddah Tower, the tallest building in Saudi Arabia. Due to the restrictions on access to Mecca because its pilgrimage is one of the pillars of Islam, only Muslims can access it and the Great Mosque, in compliance with the religious duty that every faithful who has the means must fulfill at least once in the life.

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