İzmir Clock Tower ( tr, İzmir Saat Kulesi) is a historic clock tower located at the Konak Square in the Konak district of

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It is considered as the main landmark of the city.

History

Kâmil Pasha Mehmed Kâmil Pasha ( ota, محمد كامل پاشا مصري زاده; tr, Kıbrıslı Mehmet Kâmil Paşa, "Mehmed Kamil Pasha the Cypriot"), also spelled as Kiamil Pasha (1833 – 14 November 1913), was an Ottoman statesman and liberal poli ...

, the then-Governor of Aidin Vilayet, held a meeting with the prominent people of

on 1 August 1900. It was decided a clock tower to be built in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Abdul Hamid II's accession to the throne. The clock tower was designed by the Levantine French architect

Raymond Charles Péré Raymond Charles Péré (1854–1929) was a French architect, who was born at Roquefort-de-Marsan in the Landes, France, and arrived originally as a French teacher in 1880 at Smyrna (Izmir), married Anaïs Russo there and spent the rest of his lif ...

. The groundbreaking ceremony of the construction was held on 1 September 1900. The tower was completed in August 1901 and officially inaugurated on 1 September 1901, the 25th anniversary of the sultan's accession to the throne. The top of the tower was destroyed in a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on 31 March 1928 and again in a magnitude 5.2 earthquake on 1 February 1974. During the protests against the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize cont ...

, the clock of the tower was stolen. The tower underwent restoration in 2019.

Architecture

The tower, which has an iron and lead skeleton, is high and features four

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

s (şadırvan), which are placed around the base in a circular pattern. The ground area of the tower is The tower has an octagonal plan and four floors. It was made of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

and

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

. The tower has four clocks with a diameter of 75 cm. There is a bell on the fourth floor which is carried by twelve columns. There were

tughra A tughra ( ota, طغرا, ṭuġrā) is a calligraphic monogram, seal or signature of a sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. Inspired by the tamgha, it was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted ...

s and Ottoman coats of arms on four sides of the tower. After the proclamation of the republic, they were engraved and replaced with stars and crescents.

Depictions

The clock tower was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1983–1989. It is also featured on the emblem of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. A 1:25 scale model of the tower is on display in Miniatürk.

Gallery

File:İzmir Saat Kulesi 2017 Akşam 2.jpg, Night-time view of the tower (2017) File:İzmir Clock Tower restoration 02.jpg, Renovation of the tower (2019) File:Izmir Saat Kulesi Çeşme.jpg, One of the fountains in the tower File:500 TL reverse.jpg, Reverse of the 500 lira banknote (1983–1989)

References

External links