THE CAIRO UNIVERSITY CLOCK AND THE MAKKAH ROYAL CLOCK TOWER
Cairo University Clock
The Middle East may not be a region known for its watchmaking history, well, unless you count water clocks, but it is known for its architecture, much of which stems from traditions that go back thousands of years. Part of this history, and watchmaking history at that, are clocktowers - many of which have dotted the landscape standing as witnesses to historic events since before the foundation of the modern states they find themselves in. This thought took us to Cairo, where the Cairo University Clock has stood for over 80 years, and to Mecca, where the Makkah Royal Clock Tower (Abraj Al-Bait) was completed in 2012.
Cairo University was founded in 1908 and is one of Egypt’s best public universities. The clock tower was built in 1937, the year after the signing of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, by the same team of engineers who built ‘Big Ben’ in London. The tower is 40m high and has 5 copper bells: 4 smaller ones and 1 larger one. Although it is not nearly as widely recognized as the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, it is still a recognized symbol of Cairo University, and certainly serves its purpose as far as students are concerned. The Makkah Royal Clock Tower, instead, is the tower in the center of the 7-skyscraper complex built by the government of Saudi Arabia. It is also among the tallest buildings in the world, towering over the Grand Mosque in the center of the city of Mecca. The complex was built in the place of Ajyad Fortress, that guarded the hilltop in the 1700s. The clock itself, which was built by German clock tower manufacturer Perrot Turmuhren und Läuteanlagen, displays its four faces, which are the largest in the world, on all sides of the tower. Inside, the clock hosts an astronomy exhibit and a science center. Much like with Big Ben, the Mecca clock tower has had its fair share on problems, with two fires being reported during construction in 2008 and 2009. Ultimately, however, both the Cairo University Clock and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, pictured above, are symbols of the watchmaking prowess of the Middle East, which is only now starting to blossom.