One of the five pillars of Islam, meaning every Muslim physically and financially able should undertake the great pilgrimage (hajj) once in their lifetime. Today, up to 3 million pilgrims travel to Mecca (and Medina), mostly by plane and other modern means of transport. Until the 19th and early 20th centuries, this was only possible on foot, by camel (pilgrim caravan), or by ship. The journey was extremely strenuous; pilgrims often died en route (from lack of water, disease), were robbed, or even killed. This led to escorts and fortified rest stops and forts.
Although non-Muslims are not permitted to enter the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, Christian travelers have repeatedly managed to visit Mecca and the Kaaba (mostly as supposed pilgrims) over the centuries. For example, at the beginning of the 17th century, Johannes Wild, who arrived in Arabia and Mecca as a slave, or the famous Richard Burton, whose "Personal Narrative of Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (1865)" became widely read.
Closely connected with the pilgrimage is the extraordinarily interesting 'institution' of the Mahmal, a "tent-like, pyramid-shaped wooden frame covered with a red or green silk cover richly decorated with gold-embroidered Koran drapery and ornaments, containing the gifts of the Sultan or Viceroy of Egypt intended for the Kaaba. These gifts, a cover for the Kaaba (Kiswa), richly decorated copies of the Koran, and others, are carried annually by camel to Mecca, where they arrive on Eid al-Kabir. The departure of the Mahmal from Damascus and Cairo, together with the pilgrim caravan, takes place amid pomp and circumstance."
(Source: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Band 13. Leipzig 1908, p. 106)
A detailed, early depiction of the “Mecca Caravan from Cairo with the Mahmal” can be found in Paul Lucas’s travelogue of 1706, although it only appeared in the 2nd edition of 1720.
In particular, the sending of the Mahmal from Cairo, Damascus and Istanbul becomes a popular “Orientalist motif” that finds its way into postcard production