The İzmit Clock Tower ( Turkish: ''İzmit Saat Kulesi'') in

İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental ...

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

is one of many

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another build ...

s that were built throughout the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

as a result of the decree which was sent to the provincial governors to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sultan

Abdülhamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

's ascension to the Ottoman throne. It was designed by architect

Vedat Tek Mehmet Vedat Tek (1873–1942) was a Turkish architect who was one of the leading figures of the First Turkish National Architectural Movement. Early life and education Of Cretan Muslim origin, Vedat Tek was born in Istanbul to the governor of ...

upon the order of Musa Kazım Bey, the governor of İzmit, and built in 1902. Other sources name the architect of the tower as

Mihran Azaryan Mihran Azaryan (1876 in Izmit, Ottoman Empire – 1952 in Istanbul, Turkey) was an Ottoman Armenian and Turkish architect who is best known for having designed and constructed the Büyükada Büyükada ( el, Πρίγκηπος or Πρίγκι ...

who was an Armenian-Ottoman of Izmit origin. The neoclassical clock tower, which stands just in front of the Hünkar Pavilion of Sultan Abdülaziz, has four floors with dimensions . The ground floor houses fountains, while the clock is on the top floor. All four facades of the middle floors are decorated with the seal of Sultan Abdülhamid II. The pointed cone on top is coated with lead. The clock tower has been an inseparable part of the history of İzmit throughout the 20th century, and has become the symbol of the city. In the former Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire, particularly in present-day

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

n, Bosnian and Montenegrin towns such as Belgrade,

Prijepolje Prijepolje ( sr-cyr, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2011 census, the town has 13,330 inhabitants, while the municipality has 37,059 inhabitants. Etymology One possib ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

Gradačac Gradačac ( sr-cyrl, Градачац, ) is a city located in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, roughly south of ...

and

Stara Varoš Stara Varoš may refer to: * Stara Varoš, Kragujevac, a municipality in the city of Kragujevac, Serbia * Stara Varoš, Podgorica Stara Varoš (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Стара Варош) is an Ottoman-era neighbourhood in Podgorica, Montenegr ...

, similar Ottoman era clock towers are still named ''Sahat Kula'' (deriving from the Turkish words ''Saat Kulesi'', meaning ''Clock Tower''.) It was restored in 2006.

References

See also