Dubai: Syrian Engineer Muneer Sarri Al Jundi, who designed the door of the Holy Kaaba in Mecca, during the reign of the late King Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz (1975 to 1982), died in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on Saturday.
Al Jundi, who was born in Homs, used 280kg of pure gold in designing the door of the Holy Kaaba, which is located at the centre of Mecca’s Grand Mosque. Al Jundi was assigned to design the door of Kaaba due to his expert craftsmanship. The door was installed in 1978.
Kaaba is considered the most sacred site on Earth by all Muslims because it is where Muslims worldwide face when performing their five daily prayers.
The story of designing the Kaaba door dates back to 1976, when the late King Khalid offered prayers at the Grand Mosque after which he commissioned designing the door of the Kaaba and directed that it be made of pure gold.
The door was designed by Al Jundi in the factory of Sheikh Mahmoud Badr, one of the great goldsmiths in Mecca at that time.
Engineer Al Jundi also had the honour of having his name inscribed on the door of Kaaba as a designer.
The door is three metres high, two metres wide and half a metre deep. It consists of two rudders and a base made of Thailand’s Maca Moong wood, the most expensive wood in the world. Lines engraved on the door were made by Sheikh Abdul Rahim Bukhari.
