Kiswa Factory (King Abdulaziz Complex for the Holy Kaaba Kiswa)

The King Abdulaziz Complex for the Holy Kaaba Kiswa (formerly known as the Kiswa Factory) is the state facility that manufactures the kiswa, the black silk cloth embroidered with gold Quranic calligraphy that covers the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque. King Abdulaziz established the first Saudi-era kiswa workshop in Makkah's Ajyad district in 1927; the present Umm al-Joud complex was built and relocated here in 1977, and the facility was renamed by royal decree in 2018. It operates under the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques and houses dyeing, weaving, printing, embroidery, gilding, and sewing departments where the annual kiswa and related textiles (the hizam/belt, sitara/door curtain, and the Kaaba's inner green kiswa) are produced.