Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower ( ar, برج ساعة باب الفرج) is one of the main landmarks of
Aleppo, Syria. It was built in 1898-1899 by the French
architect of Aleppo city ''Charles Chartier'' with the help of the Syrian engineer ''Bakr Sidqi'', under the
Ottoman ruler of Aleppo;
wāli Raif Pasha.
It is located near the historical gate of
Bab al-Faraj, adjacent to the building of the
National library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
.
[eAlepp]
Bab Al-Faraj tower (in Arabic)
/ref> Its construction was encouraged by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in order to mark the modern era of timeliness.
The tower was inaugurated in 1900 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Sultan's accession to the throne.
The construction of the tower cost a sum of 1,500 Ottoman lira
The lira (sign: LT) was the currency of Ottoman Empire between 1844 when it was replaced by the Turkish lira. The Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the end of 1927, as the republic was not in a position to issue its own banknotes yet in ...
. Half of the cost was collected through donations while the other half was paid by the municipality.
The design of the tower resembles the old Islamic minarets with four similar façades, topped with traditional oriental muqarnas
Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
.
See also
* Aleppo
*Bab al-Faraj (Aleppo)
Bab al-Faraj ( ar, بَاب الْفَرَج, Bāb al-Faraj or Bāb al-Faraǧ), meaning the ''Gate of Deliverance'' or ''Bab al-Faradis'' was one of the 9 main gates of the ancient city walls of Aleppo, Syria. It was located at the northern side o ...
* National Library of Aleppo
References
{{coord, 36.20402, 37.15275, format=dms, type:landmark_region:SY, display=title
Ottoman clock towers
Towers completed in 1899
Buildings and structures in Aleppo
Clock towers