Tophane (Nusretiye) Clock Tower

The Tophane Clock Tower, also known as Nusretiye Clock Tower, is located in Tophane, a district in the Istanbul district Beyoğlu next to the Nusretiye Mosque and the Tophane Kiosk on the European waterfront of the Bosphorus.

It was designed by the architect Garabet Amira Balyan and ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I (1823-1861) and completed in 1848. The four-sided three-storey bell tower is designed in the neoclassical style and is 15 metres high. Above the entrance is a tughra of Sultan Abdulmecid I. The original clock and dial are in poor condition. The bell tower as well as the Nusretiye Mosque and the Tophane Kiosk survived the urban renewal and motorway construction programme in the mid 1950s. However, it remained in the bonded warehouse of Istanbul harbour, which is now cut off from public access.