Jaffa Clock Tower, Clock tower in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Jaffa Clock Tower is a three-story stone structure in the city with two clock faces, decorative seals, and colored glass windows set into its walls. The tower stands at the northern end of Yefet Street and serves as a visible landmark that helps people navigate the surrounding streets.
The cornerstone was laid on 1 September 1900, and the tower was finished in 1903, one of more than a hundred clock towers raised across the Ottoman Empire for Sultan Abdul Hamid II's silver jubilee. Joseph Bey Moyal, a Jaffa businessman behind the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, led the funding, with money from the city's Arab, Armenian, Maronite and Jewish communities. An Austrian engineer designed it, and Moritz Schoenberg installed four clocks at the top.
The tower's square is named after it, Kikar HaShaon. Until its construction, the only bells in Jaffa rang from church and mosque towers; this civil clock tower marked a shift toward civic timekeeping. The first clockkeeper, Natanel Markovich, received special permission from the Ottoman governor to remain in the city during World War I to maintain the clock.
The clock tower sits in a central location near busy streets and is visible from many spots in the old city, making it easy to find. Visitors can reach it from different paths and explore the area around it.
The tower's four marble plaques bore the seal of Sultan Abdul Hamid II; three were lost and replaced with glass replicas, while the fourth, facing south, was restored by the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2016. The bell inside the copper roof measures 60 cm across and weighs 130 kg.
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