The Herritage & Culture
 The guiding influence in Saudi Arabian life and culture is that of Islam. The Saudi Arabian government plays an important role in caring for the Two Holy Mosques and in hosting the millions of pilgrims who visit the country.
Since the era of King Abdulaziz, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spared no effort in caring for the Two Holy Mosques and the many pilgrims who visit them. Expansion and renovation works have continued unabated.
The Holy Mosque in Makkah has been expanded in order to increase its capacity from 410,000 to 773,000 worshippers, with up to one million worshippers at peak seasons during the Pilgrimage and the holy month of Ramadan. The Holy Mosque in Medina was also expanded from 16,000 sq.m to 165,500 sq.m in order to raise its capacity from 28,000 to 700,000 worshippers with up to one million on peak occasions. The total cost of the expansion reached more than $22.5 billion. In addition to this work, the Kingdom also sponsors production of large numbers of the Holy Quran. Established in 1985, the King Fahd Complex for Printing the Holy Quran produces 10 million copies per year in addition to other publications including foreign language editions of the Holy Quran.
In order to maximize the benefit from the large number of livestock that are slain during the pilgrimage season, the Islamic Development Bank has been involved, since 1983, in distributing more than 500,00 livestock each year to refugee camps and needy people in some 27 Arab and Islamic countries.
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