Video: Grand Mosque gets new minaret

 A new giant gold-plated minaret was lifted by a massive crane at least 90 metres in the air, before it was installed on top of the Grand Mosque in the western Saudi town of Makkah, Islam’s holiest shrine.

The installation of the minaret is part of a $multi-billion expansion plans at the Grand Mosque and surrounding areas ordered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

A YouTube film of more than five minutes showed a worker riding the crescent minaret as it soared above the world’s largest mosque before joining hands with another worker inside an immense white dome to position the minaret at its base.

“The film has been admired by a large number of viewers who have seen it. It was a magnificent and wonderful scene,” the Saudi daily Arar said.

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