In 1988 (1408/09 AH) King Fahd laid the foundation stone for the third Saudi expansion of the Mosque in the Holy City of Makkah, and so began the latest, and most spectacular phase in its recent development. In his role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd's attention to the needs of the Holy Places has been unfaltering, and most obviously manifested in a multi-billion dollar program of modernization to make the places of pilgrimage more accessible to ever greater numbers.