The sitarah (or curtain) for the door of the Ka'bah – also known as the burdah or the burqu' – was by far the most elaborate part of the kiswah and was replaced annually. Since Mamluk times, and until the mid-twentieth century, sitarahs were made in Egypt and left Cairo with the kiswah accompanied by the caravan of pilgrims amidst great pomp and circumstance. Although the basic design of the sitarah changed over the centuries, Qur'anic verses always played a prominent role in its decoration. They are arranged in panels, friezes and cartouches and are mostly in thulth script. At the centre of this sitarah is a cartouche with the name and titles of the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II, who ordered the sitarah, and the date 1236 AH (1820–1821). The inscriptions, starting at the top, consist of Surat al-Ikhlas, CXII, Surat al-Naml, XXVII, verse 30 and Surat al-Isra', XVII, verse 80; the basmalah, in mirror script in four cartouches.