Encrusted with mosaics and inlaid with gold, it is the most visible (and audible) sign of the frenzied building boom that has taken hold of Saudi Arabia's holy city over the last 10 years. Shooting 26 searchlights 10km into the skies, and blaring its call to prayer 7km across the valley, the Abraj al-Bait is also the world's second tallest building.

'This development is in the interest of all Muslims all over the world.' The fortress wasn't just swept away – the hill it sat on went, too. 'No one has the right to interfere in what comes under the state's authority,' he said. A stone citadel built in 1781 to repel bandits, the Ajyad fortress's demolition sparked an international outcry in 2002, but this was quickly rebuffed by the Saudi Islamic affairs minister. Completed last year at a cost of $15bn (£9bn), it stands where an Ottoman fortress once stood. This thrusting pastiche palace houses an array of luxury hotels and apartments, perched above a five-storey slab of shopping malls. Visible 30km away, this is the Abraj al-Bait, which rises like Big Ben on steroids to tower 600m over the holy mosque of Mecca in the spiritual heart of the Islamic world. The disc is the largest clockface in the world – and not only does it adorn the tallest clocktower in the world, it also sits atop a building boasting the biggest floor area in the world. A glowing green disc hovers high in the sky at night, casting an eerie glow over a forest of minarets, cranes and concrete frames that seem to stretch endlessly into the dusty distance, like a vast field of dominoes.

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