Clock tower of Tirana

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Kulla e Sahatit
clock tower of Tirana
Kulla e Sahatit
Basic data
Place: Tirana
Construction time : 1822-1830
Renovation: 1928, 1981, 1999, 2010
Use / legal
Usage : clock tower
Technical specifications
Height : 35 m

The clock tower of Tirana ( Albanian  Kulla e Sahatit e Tiranës , mostly just Kulla e Sahatit ) is one of the main attractions of the Albanian capital. It is located in the city center on the central Skanderbeg Square next to the Et'hem Bey Mosque and has been a cultural monument of Albania since 1948.

history

The Pasha Et'hem Bey , who built the nearby mosque with his name, commissioned the building of the tower in 1822. It was officially opened in 1830 with the help of large monetary contributions from rich merchant families from Tirana. First he had a bell from Venice , which rang every hour. In the second half of the 1920s, the city administration rebuilt the tower. It was increased and received a new tip. The bell was replaced by a clock from Germany .

During the Second World War , the clock was badly damaged, so that it had to be replaced in 1946 by a Roman numbered one from a church in Shkodra . In 1970 a Chinese watch was purchased that is still in function today.

The clock tower was partially renovated in 1981 and 1999. Extensive renovation work was carried out in March 2010, including the establishment of a clock museum nearby. The city government received 30,000 US dollars from the Fund for the Protection of Cultural Treasures of the US Embassy in Tirana for the renewal of the clock . But inappropriate, modern materials were used.

Construction data

Old postcard with the tower before the renovation in the 1920s, when a dome was still at the end.

With a height of 35 meters, the narrow clock tower was the tallest building in Tirana until 1970 - with the exception of minarets. The floor plan is square, the four sides are identical with small exceptions such as doors. The stairs have 90 steps and spiral around the outside wall inside the tower. The dome originally attached to the top of the tower has the architectural style of the Markus tower . Today's top is pyramidal and made of metal.

Others

The Albanian name is derived from Sahat Kula , the name commonly used in the Ottoman Empire for a clock tower . There were such towers in many large cities in the Balkans . They were important symbols of Islam and testified to wealth. The tower was built to inform the population of Tirana about the time - pocket watches were still very rare back then. Occasionally it has been incorrectly claimed that the tower was a kind of campanile belonging to a church destroyed by the communists.

The clock tower is depicted on the city arms of Tirana.

Since 1996 the clock tower can be climbed for a small fee.

photos

  • View of the 1970 dial

  • Stairs inside the tower

  • City arms of Tirana, the clock tower is shown on the left

  • Photo from 1943

Web links

Commons : Clock Tower of Tirana  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lista e Monumenteve - Rrethi i Tiranës. (PDF) No. 14. Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania, p. 2 , accessed on June 30, 2016 (Albanian).
  2. ↑ a b c Gazmend A. Bakiu: Kthim në Kullën e Sahatit. January 30, 2011, archived from the original on January 22, 2013 ; Retrieved January 30, 2011 (Albanian).
  3. ↑ a b c d e lajme.shqiperia.com: Kulla e Sahatit të Tiranës, nis restaurimi . October 26, 2010, accessed January 30, 2011 (Albanian).
  4. ↑ Bota Sot : Restaurohet monumenti Kulla e Sahatit në Tiranë. (No longer available online.) March 18, 2010, archived from the original on January 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 30, 2011 (Albanian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.botasot.info
  5. ↑ Restaurohet Kulla e Sahatit të Tiranës. In: Bashkia Tirana. March 18, 2010, accessed January 31, 2011 (Albanian).
  6. ↑ Restaurim skandaloz i Kullës së Sahatit, u lye me bojë plastike. In: BalkanWeb.com. April 13, 2016, Retrieved April 14, 2016 (Albanian).
  7. ↑ Guntram Koch : DuMont Art Travel Guide Albania . DuMont, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7701-2079-5 .
  8. ^ Andrea Bulleri: Tirana - Contemporaneità sospesa / Suspended Contemporaneity . Quodlibet, Macerata 2012, ISBN 978-88-7462-420-1 , pp. 98 .
  9. ↑ Tim Clancy: Tirana . Thomas Cook, Peterborough 2008, ISBN 978-1-84157-970-2 .
  10. ^ Heinz Gstrein : Walter travel guide to Albania . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1989, ISBN 3-530-29602-3 .

Coordinates: 41 ° 19 ′ 39 ″  N , 19 ° 49 ′ 10 ″  E