Prophet's Mosque Building Exhibition

The Prophet's Mosque Building Exhibition in Medina centers on Qaitbay's marble minbar, built after a fire in 1481 destroyed the mosque's original wooden pulpit and roof. This guide follows how Mamluk sultan Qaitbay funded the rebuilding from Cairo, hauling marble across deserts and seas to raise a new dome, minarets and a sixth expansion of the mosque. It also traces that pattern of purchase forward to a burned textile market, Souq Qamashah, that the Saudi state later bought outright to make room for the mosque's courtyards.