LONDON.- The earliest known accurate panoramic view of Mecca is one of over forty-five important objects to be loaned by the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art to the British Museum for the exhibition Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam which will be on view in the Round Reading Room from 26 January to 15 April 2012. The Khalili Collection is the biggest single lender to this landmark exhibition, the first devoted to the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca which is central to the Muslim faith. An historic visitor was Alexander the Great, who is depicted at the Ka‘bah in a page from an Iranian copy of Firdawsi’s epic poem, the Shahnamah or Book of Kings, painted in Shiraz in the 16th century. Alexander’s journey to the Ka‘bah was the first of his world journeys when he declared himself master of Arabia and destroyed those who had distorted its religious tradition.