I would say that they’ve ruined the entire world.
One culture and region at a time.
That said, we should be thankful that the Saudis are tearing down Islamic cultural sites, and building sky scrapers, they should tear down everything, and like Vlad always says, build strip malls and Seven/Elevens from corner to corner. The Brit complains about the wrong thing here, he should be applauding the destruction and the building of the clock, which should have a giant pendulum swinging from it, knocking all other edifices dedicated to Islam to the ground.
Go to the British Museum’s Hajj exhibition if you want a close-up look at Egyptian textiles and medieval Turkish manuscripts.
But if you want to find out the truth about Mecca, and specifically how the Saudis have destroyed and spoiled some of the holiest sites in the Islamic world, you’d be better off staying at home to read this jaw-dropping article in the New Yorker by Basharat Peer.
Here’s what the British Museum didn’t let on in its blockbuster exhibition, which I visited last month.
Looming large over the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba (the black cube-shaped building that is the holiest site in Islam) is the largest and second tallest building in the world, called the Royal Mecca Clock Tower complex.
h/t: Gaia
