Grand Mosque in Makkah

Masjidil Haram Mekah (The Holl City In Mecca)

Future Developement in Mecca

Inside Masjid al Haram

Escalator

Di atas jalan pun mereka shalat

Mihrab Rasul di Makkah

Mecca transforms in preparation for Hajj - Aljazeera

Every year, millions of Muslims gather to perform the Hajj in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where the city's Grand Mosque overflows with pilgrims as many more clamor for space outside the mosque's walls.

It's a reality that Saudi authorities are hoping to change with an ambitious expansion and renovation project that is underway across the city.

But expanding and renovating the Grand Mosque and the citys infrastructure will be a challenge to do without disrupting what Muslims believe to be the holiest of spiritual journeys. AlJazeera English

Adventurer's photos capture a bygone Mecca

By Barry Neild for CNN

November 18, 2010 -- Updated 1954 GMT (0354 HKT)

Audio slideshow: Traveller photographs Mecca in 1885

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje visited Mecca in 1885 taking photos and making sound recordings
• Sepia images show city has changed almost beyond recognition in many ways
• Snouck lived a colorful life, converting to Islam and fleeing accusations of theft

(CNN) -- He was an adventurer, a scholar, and possibly a spy -- but as Dutchman Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje proved with his rare 1885 photographs and sound recordings of Mecca, he was also a pioneering multimedia journalist.