Sa'at Tower also known as Tabriz Municipality Palace ( fa, کاخ شهرداری تبریز, also

Romanize Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

d as Sā'at Tower) is building in Tabriz which is used as the city hall and main office of the municipal government of

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

East Azarbaijan Province East Azerbaijan Province ( fa, استان آذربایجان شرقی ''Āzarbāijān-e Sharqi''; az-Arab, شرقی آذربایجان اوستانی) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is located in Iranian Azerbaijan, bordering Armenia, ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Saat tower or Saat in brief, as it briefed by locals in Tabriz, is a building with a hall, a tower with clock, and a small garden in Southwestern side of the building. A circular pool with fountains is located in the middle of the garden.

History

The municipality building was designed by architect Avedis Ohanjanian, and built in 1934 as the Tabriz municipal central office and its city hall. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was used by the Azerbaijan Democrat Party as the Government Office, where cabinet meeting used to be held in its main hall. When Iranian troops regained control of Tabriz in 1947, the building was again used as the Tabriz municipal central offices, a function which has continued up to early 2000s when it is used as municipal museum.

Current alterations

During the 1980s, in an attempt for installing an elevator, one of ''Saats patios was damaged. The dome in top of the tower of Saat was reconstructed on 2008 with a new khaki colored fiber glass instead of the original silver colored dome. Since 2007, part of the building houses the Municipal Museum.

Architecture

This building has an area of about 9,600 square meters and 6,500 square meters of infrastructure, which is built on three floors. Tabriz Municipality Palace has a four-page clock tower with a height of 30.5 meters with the rhythmic resonance of its bells, every hour, it brings the passage of time to the ears of the people of Tabriz.The exterior of the building is carved out of stone and the plan of the building is similar to the design of a flying eagle, which corresponds to the example of buildings in Germany before World War II.

Museum of Municipality

In recent years parts of the building is reorganized as municipality museum of Tabriz. The museum includes historical maps of Tabriz, photos of new establishments and major constructions works in Tabriz, and golden key of Tabriz. There are also some of early vehicles, equipment, and machinery used in the city including: first movie projector, first taxi cars, and firefighting tracks. The major hall of the museum includes Tabriz municipality collection of Tabriz rugs. File:TabrizMunicipalityNorooz.jpg, Northern side of Saat Tower and municipality building from Saat square. Saat 2.jpg, Former bell of Saat Tower which is damaged during Russian invasion of Tabriz during

. The bell later replaced by a new one. File:Saat, rug gallery.jpg, Main hall of Saat tower, currently is being used as show place for rug collection of Tabriz municipality. File:StainedGlassWindows-TabrizMunicipality.jpg, Interior of Saat tower, under the southern Ivan. File:P 20160518 132506.jpg, Golden key of Tabriz. File:P 20160518 130647 1 p.jpg, Some of the equipment presented in municipality museum. File:P 20160518 125056 1 p.jpg, Basement passage of municipality building. File:Saat Tower 1930s.jpg, Saat under construction, 1930s. File:Saat Tower garden, Tabriz, Iran.jpg, Western side of Municipality Building and Saat Tower, a view from municipality garden.

Ceremonies

Since Saat Tower is located in the center of the city, it has been used for various ceremonies and gatherings in the city. During 1947 it was used as the seat of the Azerbaijan Peoples' Government. * ''Iranian new year'', at the beginning of every new Iranian Year (20 March), a big

Haft-Sin Haftsin ( fa, هفت‌سین) is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter "س" (pronounced as "seen"), the 15th letter in the Persian alphabet; "haft" (هفت) is Persian for "seven". It is traditionally displaye ...

is made behind Saat. * ''Earth hour'', since 2014 Tabriz celebrate the earth hour by turning off the lights for Saat Tower.

Etymology

Sa'at means "clock", which refers to the four face clock in top of the tower. Some calls the Saat building, Municipality Palace of Tabriz.

References

External links

Towers in Iran Museums in Tabriz Architecture in Iran Government buildings completed in 1934 Buildings and structures in Tabriz Government buildings in Iran Politics of East Azerbaijan Province 1934 establishments in Iran {{Iran-struct-stub