Dolmabahçe Clock Tower

The Dolmabahçe Clock Tower is located outside the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. The building was designed by the court architect Sarkis Balyan between 1890 and 1895 and commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918).

The bell tower was added to the Dolmabahçe Palace and stands in front of its treasure gate on a square along the European promenade of the Bosporus next to the Dolmabahçe Mosque. The four-sided, four-storey tower was designed in the Ottoman neo-baroque style. It was made by the renowned French watchmaker Jean-Paul Garnier and installed by the court watchmaker Johann Mayer. Its face shows highly stylised Arabic numerals. In 1979 the original mechanical clock was partially converted into an electric one. Two opposite sides of the tower bear the tughra of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.