IN recent years, as the unique expansion of the Old House has expanded, many libraries and publishing houses that were adjacent to the Grand Mosque have become extinct. They have played an important role in educating visitors and pilgrims and the Holy House in Makkah and developing knowledge of Islamic history and religious origins.

More than 145 different books and arts shine bright at one corner of the Raffles Makkah Hotel, directly adjacent to the Grand Mosque, a sight that still attracts the attention of everyone who enters and sees the hotel library.

It is easy to see visitors buying some books which turned hotel lobbies into an arena of knowledge, information that amazed some of them as they moved in a panoramic way between the titles of the books.

Ahmed Ereiba, Hotel Manager of Raffles Makkah Palace Hotel, believes that the aesthetic vision stems from the cultural identity of any residential tourist establishment. “As we moved towards this destination, the hotel is a place of recreation and rest that includes all its elements and not just accommodation.”

He added that the Kingdom has great goals in Vision 2030 in terms of activating "religious tourism," which requires thinking differently in presenting the image of the hotel in the two holy mosques.

As for the contents of the library, Ahmed Ereiba said the construction of its contents from books and references was done by specialists in the science of library affairs and put a study to establish it by understanding the dimensions of visitors coming to it and to satisfy their desire of knowledge.

The library of the Makkah Raffles Palace has written in Arabic and English and has been distributed in 10 different fields, including Arabic literature, stories of the Prophets, stories of the companions, Muhammadiyah, Tafseer, history, Arabic, alternative medicine and popular proverbs.

The idea of the hotel library attracted many visitors and made it one of their goals in "cognitive relaxation.” — SG