Anyone who has walked barefoot around the Kaaba in peak summer knows the feeling. The sun is relentless, the air heavy with heat, yet the marble underfoot does not burn. In a place where temperatures regularly climb past 45°C, that small detail leaves many quietly puzzled.
The courtyard surrounding the Kaaba is paved with high-quality, light-coloured marble widely identified as Thassos marble. This dolomitic stone is known for its high solar reflectance and low heat absorption coefficient. Rather than absorbing and storing solar radiation like darker paving materials, it reflects a significant portion of incoming sunlight. As a result, surface temperatures remain markedly lower than materials such as concrete or asphalt, even under prolonged exposure to direct sun.
