Doha, Qatar: The General President of the Affairs of the Grand Holy Mosque and Prophet's Holy Mosque Sheikh Dr Al-Sudais said that a Royal decree was issued in Saudi Arabia naming the portico expansion at the Grand Mosque in Makkah "The Saudi Riwaq”, the Saudi Press Agency announced.
The Saudi Riwaq includes the expanded Mataf – the open white area surrounding the Kaaba where pilgrims perform tawaf – behind the Abbasid portico, and is surrounded by the Kaaba’s courtyard.
Sheikh Dr Al-Sudais said The Saudi Riwaq has four floors and can accommodate a total of 287,000 worshipers, or 107,000 pilgrims every hour.
According to him, The Saudi Riwaq provides wider spaces of high-quality and accurate engineering standards for worshipers.
The Riwaq was first expanded in 1955 as a decree from King Abdulaziz to accommodate the increasing numbers of pilgrims, and work on it continued until its completion during the reigns of King Fahd and King Abdullah, and until the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
