The Markar Clock Tower also known as Borj-e Sa'at-e Markar () is a historic clock tower in

Yazd Yazd (; ) is a city in the Central District of Yazd County, Yazd province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. At the 2016 census, its population was 529,673. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is rec ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. It is located on the geographic centre of Iran.

History

The cost of its construction was paid by a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Pashutanji Marker. The clock tower was constructed on 26 Oct 1942. The Markar clock tower or Borj-e Sa'at Markar is located in the middle of the Marker Clock Plaza.

Architecture

The tower has a height of about 4 meters, a square shape, a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

on, and looks like an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

. The Tower is located in the center point of Iran coordinately. The movement system has been made in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

by J. Smith & Sons Co. The spring should be charged weekly. Mirza Soroush obtained permission for, and supervised the construction of, the Markar Plaza with gardens around it. The plaza is situated on the road to

Kerman Kerman (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kerman County), Central District of Kerman County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. History Kerman was founded as a def ...

just north of the Markarabad school entrance. There are poems on four sides of tower from a local poet, Naser, which located in two lines and should read clockwise. The upper line poem is about

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

, but the lower line is about the benefactor. The last hemstitch (شادم از کردار نیک مارکار) implies the end time/year of building of tower in

Abjad numerals The Abjad numerals, also called Hisab al-Jummal (, ), are a decimal alphabetic numeral system/alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been used in the Arab world, Arabic-speaking ...

system; 13:20 or 1320 ( Solar Hijri), as well as Markar's religion (Zoroastrian) by using one of his religion maxims: " Good Deeds"; (Persian: کردار نیک). This hemstitch has an Abjad numeric value: 300+1+4+40+1+7+20+200+4+1+200+50+10+20+40+1+200+20+1+200=1320

Etymology

Sa'at means "clock", which refers to the four face clock in top of the tower. Markar is the name of benefactor who paid the cost of building.

Gallery

File:Markar Clock Tower Yazd Iran.jpg, Markar Sa'at Plaza File:Markar Tower Clock motor.jpg, The clock movt. system designed in London.

References

External links

* {{GeographicalCenters Buildings and structures in Yazd Geographical centres