The Times has produced a virtual reality film from Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holy cities. To view it, download the NYT VR app on your mobile device if you don’t already have it. (Go here for Android, and here for iPhone.)

In February 2016, the photographer Luca Locatelli traveled to Mecca during umrah, a minor pilgrimage that can be made for much of the year. He received permission from the Saudi Arabian authorities to document the trip.

The author Basharat Peer wrote about Mr. Locatelli’s photographs for The New York Times Magazine in June, in a piece called “Mecca Goes Mega” that focused on the building boom transforming the sacred city’s center.