In a change of tradition, the new cover of the Holy Kaaba in Makkah was installed early Saturday, at the dawn of the new Islamic year of 1444, reports Arab News.

It used to be that the Kiswa was replaced once a year during Hajj, specifically on the morning of Dhul Hijjah 9 after the pilgrims go to Mount Arafat, in preparation for receiving worshippers the next morning, which coincides with Eid Al-Adha.

Last month, Saudi Arabia's General Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques announced the change in tradition so that the annual event would be held on the eve of Muharram 1, the first day in the Hijri calendar.

Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, president of the Two Holy Mosques presidency, had said the change was being made based on a royal decision.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the changing of the Kiswa early Saturday was carried out by a team of 200 Saudi technicians from the King Abdulaziz Complex for Manufacturing the Kaaba's Kiswa, under the supervision of Sheikh Sudais.

Technicians at the King Abdulaziz Complex do the weaving, stitching and printing by hand and machines using 47 pieces of cloth and thread to make the Kiswa. The world's largest computerized sewing machine, at 16 meters in length, carries out the process.

The cloth is stitched together in five different parts and fixed to the base with copper rings. Around 670 kilograms of raw silk is dyed black at the complex.

The Kiswa is decorated with Quranic verses embroidered onto the cloth with 120 kilograms of 21-karat gold thread and 100 kilograms of silver thread.

The cost of making a new 850-kilogram Kiswa is estimated to cost SR25 million, or over $6.5 million, making it the world's most expensive covering.