Name of Object:

Clock tower, Beirut

Location:

Berlin, Germany

Holding Institution:

Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, State Museums

 About Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, State Museums, Berlin

Date of Object:

1900

Description:

In the Ottoman provinces, clock towers became part of the urban space in the 19th century. These monuments allowed a certain control of time and symbolized "modernity". But they also functioned as imperial monuments. Beirut’s clock tower was for instance built near the Grand Serail to celebrate the anniversary of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid’s [`Abd al-Hamid II]accession to the throne. So clock towers might be the most telling symbol of the presence of a new political order in the wake of the Tanzimat. Designed by Youssef Aftimus, the tower is 25 m tall, which made it the tallest piece of architecture in Beirut at the time of its completion.

Type of Object

Photograph; postcard

Citation of this web page:

Stefan Weber "Clock tower, Beirut" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;de;17;en

Prepared by: Stefan Weber

MWNF Working Number: DE 017