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Secondary sourcePainting

The Mosque of Mecca with the Kaaba, from the East

Ibn Battuta

An illustration of the Great Mosque of Mecca and the Kaaba, linked to Ibn Battuta's description of his pilgrimage in his travel account.

This image illustrates the Kaaba and mosque that Ibn Battuta described visiting on his pilgrimage to Mecca.

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Black-and-white elevated view of the Great Mosque of Mecca. A dark cube, the Kaaba, stands in an open courtyard ringed by stone arcades and minarets, with dense city buildings and bare hills behind.
The Mosque of Mecca, with the Ka'ba, from the east. Plate from the Travels of Ibn Battuta.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white plate showing an elevated view of the Great Mosque of Mecca, with the Kaaba standing in its courtyard surrounded by arcades and minarets. It appears as an illustration connected to Ibn Battuta's travel writings, the Rihla.

Why it matters

Ibn Battuta performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and described the mosque and the Kaaba in his account. Images like this helped later readers picture the sacred site he wrote about, linking his words to a visual record of one of Islam's holiest places.

Look closer

  • What details in the image help show the scale and importance of the mosque?
  • Why might publishers add an illustration like this to a written travel account?
  • What can't a single image tell you about a place that Ibn Battuta experienced in person?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ibn Battuta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Scanned manuscript page in Arabic calligraphy on aged cream paper. The top has a line of black script with a decorative heading, and a red-ink title block in larger calligraphy reading the opening of the work. Below are about two dozen lines of brown-ink handwritten text in dense Arabic script, with a marginal note at the bottom left.Book

Primary source

The Rihla

Ibn Battuta · 1354-1356

Two facing pages of a handwritten Arabic manuscript on aged paper. The right page is written in dark ink in neat, flowing script; the left page is faded and more worn, with lines of script partly obscured. The pages show the text of the travel account.Book

Primary source

Manuscript of the Rihla by Ibn Juzayy

Ibn Juzayy · 14th century

Ruins of a stone fort on a dry, hazy hillside under a pale sky. Massive sloping stone walls with crenellated battlements stand on the left, and a long arched stone gallery with a flat roof runs across the right. Scrubby bushes and dry earth surround the site, with a distant city skyline on the horizon.Artifact

Secondary source

Tughlaqabad Fort

Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq · 1321

Photograph of an open handwritten Arabic manuscript with dense black ink script on cream pages, with some red-ink headings visible. The left page is in focus and the right page is angled and partly blurred.Book

Secondary source

Manuscript copy of the Rihla (1484)

Ibn Juzayy · 1484

Eight vertical panels of the Catalan Atlas side by side, showing an illuminated medieval world map with colored seas, decorated landmasses, compass roses, flags, rulers on thrones, and figures and animals.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas

Cresques Abraham · c. 1375

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