Jaffa Clock Tower
Jaffa Clock Tower | |
---|---|
برج الساعة يافا | |
General information | |
Type | Clock tower |
Architectural style | Ottoman |
Location | Jaffa, Israel |
Address | Yefet Street |
Construction started | 1900 |
Completed | 1903 |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 3 |
The Jaffa Clock Tower (Hebrew: מגדל השעון יפו, Migdal haShaon Yafo, Arabic: يافا برج الساعة) is one of seven clock towers built in Palestine during the Ottoman period. The others are located in Safed, Acre, Nazareth, Haifa, Nablus. Jerusalem also had a clock tower built during the Ottoman period, but it has not survived to the present day.[1]
The Jaffa Clock Tower stands in the middle of Yefet street at the northern entrance of Jaffa, the ancient city that is now a part of Tel Aviv. The tower, which is made of limestone, incorporates two clocks and a plaque commemorating the Israelis killed in the battle for the town in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[2]
History
The construction of the tower was initiated by Moritz Schoenberg, a Jewish businessman and clockmaker who also built the adjacent Bustrus St. (now Raziel St.) to commemorate the silver jubilee of the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Hamid II. The tower was built with contributions of the residents of the city, Arabs and Jews, headed by Joseph Bey Moyal.[3]
The first stone of the tower was laid in September 1900. Within a year two floors were built and the construction of a third floor had begun. In 1903 the clock tower had been erected and Schoenberg designed and installed four clocks at its top.[3] It is similar to the clock tower of Khan al-Umdan in Acre that is dedicated to the same purpose.[4] More than a hundred similar clock towers were built throughout the Ottoman Empire due to this occasion.[5]
In 1966 the Jaffa Clock Tower was renovated, new clocks were installed and colorful mosaic windows designed by Arie Koren to describe the history of Jaffa were added.[4]
In 2004 the clock tower appeared on an Israeli stamp worth 1.3 sheqels. It was together with the clock towers in Safed, Acre, Haifa and Jerusalem featured in a series of Ottoman Clock Towers In Israel.[6]
References
- ^ מגדל השעון יפו. 7wonders.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ "Jaffa - Clock-Tower". planetware.com. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ a b מגדל השעון. Tel-Aviv-Yafo Municipality (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ a b "Jaffa's Clock Tower". archnet.org. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ מגדל השעון ביפו. lib.cet.ac.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ "The Jaffa Clock Tower, Clock Square". boeliem.com. Retrieved 2011-09-06.