Clock Tower of Tirana

A 35 m stone clock tower beside the Et'hem Bey Mosque near Skanderbeg Square, once the tallest building in Tirana.

It was built by Haxhi Et'hem Bey, who also built the mosque's minaret and a madrasa, which is a religious school. Most sources date its completion to 1822, though another account says building ran from 1822 to 1830, paid for by the city's wealthy families. The tower is recognised as a cultural monument, and it still shows the time to people crossing the square.

A clock with a story

The first clock mechanism was credited to the Tufina family, famous clockmakers who looked after the tower until 1973. In World War I, Austrian forces took that original mechanism away. A new one was bought from Germany in 1928 for 13,390 gold francs, and the tower was renovated at the same time to get its present look. It was first lit at night in the 1930s.

Through changing times

The tower was damaged in World War II and began working again in July 1946 using a mechanism like the one from the Great Church of Shkodër. During communist rule, a red star was placed on top. In 1974 an electric mechanism from China powered the tower and a network of street clocks. The English artist Edward Lear painted the tower in 1848, giving us the earliest pictures of it.

On the globe

The model shows the tall stone clock tower beside the mosque near Skanderbeg Square.