There’s a ritual of pilgrimage to a holy site in almost all faiths.

Muslims worldwide have directed their prayers towards Mecca and the Kaaba five times a day for centuries.

Considered to be 'the House of God,' the Kaaba is the holiest site in Islam and located in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Muslims began addressing their daily prayers ('qibla' in Arabic) in the direction of the Kaaba instead of Jerusalem after 624 CE.

Muslims believe that the Kaaba was constructed by Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Ismail, to pray to the one God.

The Kaaba was set on fire during the civil war between the Umayyad caliph, Abd Al Malik, and the ruler of Mecca, Ibn Zubayr, in 683 CE.

Prophet Muhammad removed idols from the Kaaba upon his victorious return to Mecca in 624 CE, according to Islamic sources.

By the seventh century, the Kaaba was covered with kiswa, a black cloth that is replaced annually during the Hajj.

Ottoman Sultans Suleiman I and Selim II heavily renovated the complex in the 17th century after floods destroyed part of the Kaaba in 1630.

In 1976, the interior of the Kaaba was decorated with gold geometric motifs and inscribed with Quranic verses by the government of Saudi Arabia.