The Kaaba is a large, black granite stone structure set on a marble base. Its cubical shape measures some 50 feet in height, with three facades measuring about 35 feet in length each, and one measuring about 40 feet. The four corners point North, East, South and West. The 12-inch black stone, possibly the remnants of a meteorite, is encased in a silver frame and sits as the shrine's eastern, or celestial, cornerstone, East being the direction of the rising sun.
The Kaaba's sacredness and destination for pilgrims predates Islam by hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. It was, before Muhammad destroyed them, a sanctuary for some 360 images and representations of local gods. These days, it sits in the center of Saudi Arabia's Grand Mosque.
